Remnant's Salamander
by fpinheiro96
Summary: After being rejected by Lucy, Natsu is sucked through a portal with Happy. Now he finds himself in Remnant right in the middle of a fight between Tyrian, Team RNJR and Qrow. Watch as Natsu turns Remnant upside down and engraves the name Salamander in the history books. Rated M for lemons. Pairing Natsu x Ruby
1. Chapter 1-Salamander arrives on Remnant

**Chapter 1 - Salamander arrives on Remnant**

_**/Guiltina/**_

Two weeks have passed since Natsu Dragneel, better known as Salamander, defeated not only the White Witch Touka, but also his foster brother Ignia. Since then Natsu and his team have been recovering and resting in a forest. Natsu, in the company off his blue exceed partner Happy, is currently fishing for their lunch in a nearby lake with a frown on his face. Natsu wasn't one to get sad or upset easily but considering what was on is mind it was more than understandable.

_'I still can't believe she doesn't love me. After everything we've been through and all I did for her I really thought she felt something for me...especially after all the hints she gave. Heh, I am such an idiot.'_ the pink-haired Dragon slayer thought to himself. He was pulled out of his thoughts when he felt a small paw on his forearm. He looked down and saw Happy staring at him with a sad look on his face. He smiled and asked. "What's wrong little buddy? Is everything ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine Natsu. I'm more worried about you." answered the small exceed.

"Well I'am feeling great! Actually my body feels better than ever!" chuckled the fire Dragon slayer "Man, I can't wait to get back to the guild and fight Gildarts again. I am so kicking his ass this time. I'm all fired up now!" said Natsu with big toothy grin.

"That´s great but... that's not what I meant. I wanted to know how your feeling after...uh...you know..." said Happy nervously, not really knowing how to approach this topic.

"How I'm feeling after Lucy rejected my love confession?" completed Natsu for Happy.

"Aye." nodded the exceed.

Yesterday Natsu had finally gathered the courage to tell Lucy how much he loved her and this time, he wanted to do things right and tell her 'I love you' not give her some inderect message like the one he gave before leaving with their team for the 100 year quest. So he bought her a bouquet of roses on a village they passed that day and during the evening he asked her to come meet him on this lake at midnight, leaving everyone but Happy confused because he knew about Natsu's plan. After the deed was done Lucy told him she only liked him as a best friend or a brother leaving Natsu heartbroken.

* * *

_"Luce, I love you." said Natsu stunning the Celestial spirit wizard_

_"Natsu, I-I'm flatered but... I just don't love you like that... I care for you a lot but only as best friend maybe a brother." said Lucy sadly. Natsu's eyes widened at this._

_"Bu-but I... I thought you..." said the Dragon slayer with tears starting to gather in his eyes._

_"I'm sorry Nat-" said Lucy while trying to hug the pink-haired boy only to be pushed back by the Dragon slayer._

_"DON'T! Just... I-I want to be alone right now...please." begged the fire Dragon slayer almost unable to contain his tears anymore. Stunned by this she just nodded and left. After this he stopped holding the tears back and fell on his knees crying. Unknown to him Happy was watching from behind the bushes._

_...Natsu?...Natsu?_

* * *

"NATSU?!"

"Gah!" Natsu snapped out of his memory. "Y-yeah?"

"You spaced out there for minute Natsu" said Happy

"Sorry buddy" said Natsu scratching the back of his neck before sighing. " As for your question... no I'm not ok. It hurts alot right now but... I can't force her to love me so I'm gonna have move on. It will take a while though. So don't worry I'll be ok."

"Ok. And hey! I'm sure you'll find a girl that loves you just as much as I love Charles!" encouraged Happy.

"Heh thanks, little buddy." said Natsu with a small smile.

Their moment was cut short, however, when a portal opened behind the duo and suck them inside.

* * *

_**/Remnant - Forests of Anima/**_

Ruby Rose was not having a good day. Why? Well firstly because she and her team were getting their asses kicked by some crazy scorpion faunus named Tyrian Callows ,who wants to kidnap her for some reason on some godesses orders, and secondly because she just took a kick in the abdomen while in midair that sent her to the ground and broke her Aura.

Unknown to them a crow ,that was flying determinedly to the fray, turns into Qrow Branwen who keeps running forward after landing.

Tyrian approaches Ruby on the ground and raises his stinger, his eyes turning dark purple. Nora, who is comforting a fallen Ren, and Jaune both look on in horror. Laughing, Tyrian is about to strike with his scorpion tail when Qrow bursts through a building and inserts himself between them, holding his weapon behind his back. There's a metallic noise as Tyrian's stinger hits against Qrow's weapon and clips into the blade. He lets out a nervous giggle of surprise while Ruby and Qrow make eye contact and smile at each other.

"Hey." said Qrow

Tyrian pulls his tail back. Qrow turns around, swinging his weapon and holding at the ready by his side.

"As I live and breathe, Qrow Branwen. A true Huntsman has entered the fray!" said Tyrian

Ruby gets up and sets Crescent Rose on its end. Qrow glances back at her.

"I don't know, this guy's weird." answered Ruby to Qrow's silent question

"Look, pal, I'm not sure who you are, but you need to leave my niece alone." said Qrow while facing Tyrian again.

Tyrian chortles. "Why, friend, my name is Tyrian. And I'm afraid that is not possible. My assignment from Her Grace was to retrieve this young girl. So, that is what I must do. One does not upset the Queen."

"Queen?" asked Ruby.

"Salem." said Qrow.

"Who?" questioned Ruby

"Hmm, I think we've had enough talk now, don't you?" said Tyrian while assuming a crouching position.

"Took the words right out of—" said Qrow but before he can finish voicing the thought Tyrian rushes him and twists to the right as he throws his weight into a slash at him with his left wrist blades. It is deflected by the body of Qrow's weapon and Tyrian easily comes round to attack with his right blades. His attack is once again deflected and Tyrian steps back from Qrow, his momentum carrying him.

Qrow slashes twice at Tyrian, missing both times. Tyrian jumps into the air and spins so that he can deliver a landing kick to Qrow followed by a slash with his blades. Qrow dodges both. Tyrian continues flipping, moving away from Qrow until he is ready to come at him again, laughing. Qrow meets his blades in the air with his own blade, resulting in a clash of metal that is strong enough to loudly propel them away from each other. Tyrian flips away while a slightly pushed back Qrow holds his ground in a lunge.

Tyrian uses his blades to help him stay upright and Qrow is immediately there, attacking. Tyrian dodges, blocks the second swing with his tail and leaps to the side. Their two blades meet several times as they match each other, metallic clashes ringing out, including when Qrow blocks attacks from Tyrian's stinger.

Qrow leaps up and somersaults downward to cut Tyrian with his descent, but Tyrian blocks it with his wrist blades. The powerful clash of their weapons sends out a shock wave that blows the roof off of a building behind them. They both pause in that moment, the pressure the two of them are putting on their weapons creating tiny sparks before they can do anything else... something happened.

A portal opened above them and two figures, a boy and a cat, came falling from it at high speed screaming forcing Qrow and Tyrian to jump backwards to avoid getting hit by them. Before they could hit the ground however the cat grabbed the boy and started flying with wings that appeared on his back landing safely on the ground leaving everyone flabbergasted.

Everyone observed the new arrivals. The boy looked about their age and was lean, muscular of average height with a slightly tan skin tone, black eyes, spiky pink-colored hair, and has abnormal sharp canines . His outfit consists of a one-sleeved, gold trimmed, black overcoat, left open and untucked, exposing his bare chest and leaving his right arm exposed, a gold trimmed, black cloth around his waist that reaches his knees, held by a yellow sash, white knee-length trousers with black ribbon ties, a thick black wristband on his left wrist, black open-toed sandals and the scale-patterned scarf. He also wears a wristband on his right wrist. The young man also has a cross-shaped scar on the left side of his abdomen and a red tatto located just below his right shoulder.

The cat is small, blue with a white stomach. He has a rectangular head, with pink ears, big black eyes with small, thin eyebrows, and light blue cheek marks near to his tiny whiskers (two on each side of his face)he has a triangular nose that leads to semi-round upper lips on the sides. His body is rectangular too and has a structure that allows him to walk erect, unlike normal cats. He has a long, white-tipped tail; and the other parts of his tail are blue. Additionally he carries around a green backpack.

"Oh man...That was a close one." said the boy with a carefree smile like he didn't almost just died making everyone except Tyrian sweatdrop. He turned to the cat "Thanks for the save Happy!" said the boy while petting the cat with a big toothy smile.

"Aye sir! Your welcomed Natsu." said the now named Happy with a smile.

Natsu looked around in confusion. First to Qrow, then to Ren and Nora, then to Jaune and stopped when he locked eyes with Ruby's silver ones. He approached her with the cat on his shoulders having a serious stare leaving the NJR of Team RNJR and Qrow nervous and wondering if this guy was an ally or an enemie, Ruby however after looking into his black eyes that radiated warmth felt like she could trust him. When he reached her he kept staring at her and Qrow was ready to move in to protect his niece, however...

"Uh, sorry but huh... could you tell me where I am?" said Natsu smiling while scratching the back of his head making Qrow fall anime style.

"Sure! Your in Oniyuri a village in the continent of Anima." said Ruby with a smile.

"Oh come on! Not this again!" compIained Natsu to Happy after facepalming. "What's this world's name?" he asked just to be sure.

"This... world?" said Ruby tilting her head to the side in confusion. _'Did he lose his memory or something?'_ thought just nodded. " It's called Remnant." answered Ruby making Natsu and Happy pale.

"AAAAAHHHHH! WE ARE NOT IN EARTHLAND ANYMORE! HOW WILL WE GET BACK HOME?" screamed both wizard while running/ flying around in circles and panicking making everyone sans Tyrian jump in suprise at how loud they were being. They stopped abrutly and said smilling "Oh well it's fine." making team RNJR and Qrow fall anime style at how fast they go from carefree to panicking and back to carefree. Tyrian however was starting to get more and more annoyed at being ignored and decided it was time to attack Ruby again now that everyone was distracted.

"ENOUGH! Fight time!" said Tyrian while he ran at Ruby faster than what Qrow could react, grabbed her with his tail and slammed her in the ground making her cough a bit of blood. After this the faunus grabbed her by the neck making her gasp for air and pointed his stinger at her stomach. This made everyone including Natsu and Happy widened their eyes.

"RUBY!" shouted Jaune with Ren and Nora stopping him from moving foward.

"No! Don't!" shouted Qrow while running to stop him. Unfortenatly Qrow wasn't fast enough and Tyrian stabbed his stinger towards Ruby.

"GAAAAAHHHHHHH!" a scream was heard but it wasn't Ruby's it was Tyrian's. Everyone's jaw dropped when they saw the boy named Natsu holding the stinger with a hand squeezing it with an iron grip and his eyes hidden behind his hair's bangs.

"H-how...W-when did he?" stuttered Jaune looking to from where the Dragon slayer was to where he is now.

"Soooo cool! Don't you think Renny?" said Nora with a big smile.

"Yes. He is really fast and strong" nodded Ren.

_'Incredible. I almost didn't see him move.' _said a stunned Qrow.

"Let go of her." said Natsu while looking at the ground his eyes still covered by his bangs. When Tyrian didn't Natsu looked up and his eyes were no longer black but green with slits. "Now!" said Natsu glaring strongly at the faunus. Tyrian also saw the image of a giant red dragon behind the boy glaring and roaring at him making his instincts tell to run away as far as possible from this pink haired boy, that the boy was dangerous. Scared Tyrian dropped Ruby allowing her to breathe. As soon she touched the ground she looked up in time to see Natsu pulling Tyrian by his stinger punching him hard in the face sending him flying several feet and through a building causing it to colapse on top of him.

"Wow." was all a stunned Ruby could say about what she just witnessed not that her team was any better. A boy about their age just punched through a building the enemy they were having so much trouble with like it was nothing and he didn't even look winded. Qrow was the only one who wasn´t stunned because he could feel that the boy was much stronger than this and was holding back when he punched Tyrian, the question was how much. Ruby was taken out of her thoughts when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Blinking she turned to see a concerned Natsu kneeling in front of her.

"Are you okay?" asked Natsu

"Y-yeah" nodded Ruby with a small blush from how close his face was. " Thanks by the way for saving me huh..." said Ruby

"The name's Natsu, Natsu Dragneel and your welcome." said Natsu with his signature smile making Ruby blush again but she fought it off. Happy landed on his shoulder

_'What a warm smile' _thought Ruby. "Nice to meet you Natsu! I'm Ruby, Ruby Rose." said Ruby with a big smile making Natsu blush a bit but he shook it of.

"So what's the deal with that dude?" asked Natsu while pointing at the building Tyrian was under. Ruby was gonna answer but before she could someone spoke.

"Ruby, are you okay?" said Jaune concerned. Jaune was being followed by Ren, Nora and Qrow. Ruby just nodded.

"You sure kiddo? You took a pretty hard hit without having Aura." said Qrow

"Yeah. I'm fine guys just a little sore." said Ruby.

"Naaatsu!" everyone turned to see Happy flying towards Natsu and hugging him.

"Hey Happy!" said Natsu. The Exceed then turned to Ruby and asked.

"Are you okay?"

Ruby nodded "Yup all thanks to Natsu. I thought I was a goner."

"That scorpion guy is a jerk." said a angry Happy

Natsu nodded just as angry " Yeah your right buddy. That dude just attacked Ruby when she wasn't looking and then tried to kill her" Natsu then crossed his arm "Plus he smelled evil." Everyone blinked at this.

_'He smelled evil. What Is he? A faunus?' _thought everyone. Qrow decided to ask the question everyone wanted to.

"Thanks for saving my niece kid, but I have to ask. Who the hell are you guys? And why did you fall from that portal?"

Natsu and Happy turned to each other and then back to the group while grinning "I'm Natsu Dragneel and this is my partner Happy." said Natsu.

"I'm Jaune Arc." said Jaune smilling.

"Hi I'm Nora Valkyrie! And this here is Renny, we're together but not "together together", got it? " said Nora with a big smile while pointing at Ren.

"Like she said I'm Lie Ren. Sorry about Nora, she can be a handfull sometimes. " said Ren with a wry smile.

"Don't sweat it, man. We're used to being around rowdy people." assured Natsu with a grin and Ren nodded gratefully.

"And I'm Qrow Branwen. So, where did you come from and why did you fall from that portal?" said Qrow while looking at the

"We don't know why that portal appeared but we didn't come from any part of this world. We´re wizards from the Fairy Tail Guild in another world called Earthland." said Happy stunning everyone especially Qrow at the word 'wizards'.

Natsu turned around and glared at the debris Tyrian was under and said "We would explain more but—"

BOOOMMM

The debris exploded and from the smoke came Tyrian with purple eyes and a crazed smile on his face "...Doubt he will let us." Tyrian started laughing crazily and pinted at Natsu

"Hahahahaha! Your one scary strong kid!"

Natsu stepped foward still glaring and stood protectively in front of Ruby "And your one ugly bastard. Why did you try to kill Ruby?"

"I didn't. I was trying to paralize her with poison. My assignment from Her Grace was to retrieve this young girl. If I kill her my Queen would be upset." said the faunus with a crazed smile. He pointed one of his double-barrelled machine guns loaded with fire dust to Natsu "So step aside from the girl."

"Make me!" said Natsu defiantly. Tyrian's response was to shoot Natsu several times. Natsu pushed Ruby and Happy back and crossed his arms in front of him. The bullets hit him and created several explosions. Everyone's eyes but Happy's widen.

"No not again. NATSU!" cried Ruby at thinking she lost another friend without being able to do anything and this time because of her.

Happy placed a paw on her shoulder and said with a reasuring smile "Don't worry Ruby. He's fine."

Ruby looked at him like he was crazy but then

Slurp... Slurp

Everyone's jaws hit the foor when they saw Natsu eating the fire from the explosion.

"Wow. Renny, Jaune am I seeing what I'm seeing...?" asked Nora with stars on her eyes. Ren and Jaune coudn't form a response and just nodded.

"No way. I must be drunk again...right?" asked Qrow to no one in particular

"He's okay... He's really okay!" said Ruby with a releaved smile while she wiped her tears. She then looked at Happy "How does he do it? Is it his Semblance?" asked Ruby

"Semblance? No. Natsu is immune to fire because of his magic: He is a Fire Dragon slayer." explained Happy

"A Fire Dragon slayer...? So cool!" said Ruby with a smile.

Natsu finished eating the fire and stared at Tyrian with a predatory grin and said "Thanks for the grub." The faunus just looked at him in rage. Natsu then glared at the faunus and said while cracking his neck and knucles "I don't really get what's going on here or what this Queen of yours wants with Ruby but... I don't care. You want her you go through me." Ruby widened her eyes and her heart skipped a beat. "She's my friend and you tried to take her against her will... plus you hurted her. So that means you are getting an ass kicking!"

Ruby placed a hand on her chest "Natsu." she said while staring at his back with a blush on her face.

"I don't care if I have to go through you! I will not fail my Queen!" said Tyrian in rage

"All of you stay back. I'll take care of him." said Natsu as he started making his away to Tyrian. He didn't make it to far because Ruby grabbed his arm. He looked back to see her concerned look.

"Natsu let's fight together. I...no we can still fight."Ruby said while NJR and Qrow just nodded with their weapons on their hands. Natsu just waved his head in denial. "B-but we'll have a better chance togeth—" Ruby coudn't finish her sentence because Natsu placed a hand in her head and his forehead on hers. "W-w-wha..." she stammered blushing.

"Thanks, but you guys are injured and tired. It's better if you stay here and rest. Don't worry I'll be fine." Natsu with a reassuring smile. Then he gave her his signature smile and said "I promise I'll kick his ass for you so you just stay there and watch. Deal?"

Ruby still blushing madly nodded."Okay." Natsu then took a step back and let go of Ruby.

"Well I hate to admit but the kid's right. You guy's can hardly stand and I'm almost out of aura, tired too" said Qrow frowning but then he smirked and said "Plus this is a good oportunity to see what you can do Mr. Wizard."

Natsu smirked too and said "Well get ready to be amazed."

"Good luck." said Jaune with a small smile.

Ren nodded and added smilling "And be careful with his stinger." And Natsu smiled and nodded at the two.

"Break his legs!" said Nora with a big smile.

Natsu laughed and said with a grin "Good idea ! Although I was thinking more of burning him to ashes." he then turned to Happy and both smiled at each other. Natsu then glanced at Ruby,who was staring at the floor, one last time and when she looked at him he smiled before turning around making the Fairy Tail secret sign with Happy doing the same much to the confusion of everyone. Natsu then began walking to where Tyrian was with a determined stare.

"What was the meaning of the sign both of you did at me?" Ruby asked Happy while the rest listened attently.

Happy smiled and said "In Fairy Tail everyone is family and it doesn't matter if your related by blood or not. This sign is a reminder of that and it sends a message to everyone in the guild: "I may not be able to see you... There may even be hundreds of miles between us, but I will always be looking your way. I'll be watching over you forever. I promise." This is mine and Natsu's way of saying your our friends, that your part of the family and we'll protect you no matter what." stunning everyone at the fact that they already consider them friends and family even if they didn't know them that well.

A tear fell down Ruby's eye and she hugged Happy while smiling and said "Thank you."

"Your welcome and don't worry Natsu will win for sure." said Happy confidently. Then everyone felt the temperature increase.

"Is it just me or is it getting hotter?" asked Jaune and everyone nodded.

Back to Natsu he had just reached Tyrian who was glaring at him and he answered that look giving him a dragonic glare. While he was walking Natsu started releasing his magic power increasing the surrounding temperature. Without dropping the glare Natsu said with a predatory grin "Sorry for taking so long. Now are you ready to get your ass kicked?" some flames started leaking from his body as he took a fighting stance.

"I'm gonna kill you boy and then I'll kill the rest of your group and take the little flower with me back to my Queen. Yes my Grace. Soon I'll bring the girl hahahahah"said Tyrian with a crazed laugh at the end. He then crouched down.

Both rush each other and clash. Tyrian started with a left punch that Natsu dodged by sidestepping. Natsu then gave a knee to Tyrian's midsection that he blocked with his arm but barely. Tyrian then uses his scorpion tail to stab at Natsu stomach but he flips over it before jumping and spin kicking him with his right leg sending him flying and Natsu dashes after him. Tyrian touches the ground, flips right up and jumps backwards just in time to dodge Natsu punch that hit the ground and created a crater. They stared at each other before Tyrian dashes at Natsu and spins to give him a backhand slash with his left wrist blade that Natsu ducked and then Tyrian tried to gave him a downward slash with his right wrist blade but Natsu reacted faster and grabbed his arm, spined around and thrown Tyrian into the air but he spinned and landed safely on the ground before dashing towards Natsu. The Dragon slayer met his charge and both started traiding punches, kicks, knees, slashes and elbows that were either dodged, block or deflected. This continued without one gaining advantage over the other until Tyrian decided to add his tail into the equation forcing Natsu to grab it with both hands before it could pierce his heart leaving him opened for an attack. Tyrian took advantage and in quick succession landed a right hook, a left hook and a right uppercut to his face that sent him into the air. Tyrian jumped after him and heel kicked Natsu into the ground creating a crater. Tyrian landed and started giggling crazily.

"Fun! Fun! FUN! Oh I can do this all day! NO I can't... the mission, remember the mission" Tyrian says as he pounds the top of his head.

"NATSU!" said Ruby in tears before grabbing Crescent Rose and running to help him only to be held back by. "Let go uncle Qrow! He needs help."

"Natsu's fine Ruby. Just watch." said Happy with a reasuring smile.

"He's right kiddo. Take a closer look." said Qrow with a smile. Ruby looked and what she saw made her smile in relief.

When the smoke cleared Natsu was already on his knee. He finished getting up, spitting some blood. He had some bruises on his face and was bleeding from his lip but other than that he was fine. Natsu wiped his lip, smirked at Tyrian and said while straightening his scarf "Not bad. Guess it's time I step it up." then his turned dragonic, flames started licking his body and he said with a predatory smile "I'm all fired up!"

This made Tyrian blink in confusion before giving a wide smile and saying "Hahaha step it up? FIRED UP! Bring—Gaaaaaah!"

**"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" **Natsu ignited his right fist with fire and gave Tyrian a flaming punch in the face sending him flying. Natsu created a small explosion beneath his feet to rocket himself towards Tyrian to catch him before he hit the ground. When he caught up to him he lifted his left leg and ignited his feet.

**"Fire Dragon's Claw!" **Natsu hit Tyrian with a flaming heel kick in the stomach against the ground making him spit blood and creating a explosion. Natsu jumped back and waited for the smoke to clear.

Back with Team RNJR, Qrow and Happy everyone but the Exceed was stunned. Qrow was the first to find his voice and said in disbelief "He eats fire, punches and kicks with fire. What the hell is this kid he doesn't even have is Aura unlocked from what I can tell"

Ruby looked at Happy who she was still hugging "You said Natsu used Fire Dragon slayer magic. Is that why he can do this?"

Happy nodded " Aye. A Dragon's lungs to breathe fire, a Dragon's scales to dissolve fire and a Dragon's claws to mold fire, enhanced senses. Dragon Slayer Magic is a type of Lost Magic which allows its users to transform their physical bodies into a Dragon. As a result, the user can transform their body with features of their respective element, utilizing both offensive and defensive styles. A Dragon Slayer is immune to their own element and can consume external sources of their element to replenish their strength. However, a Dragon Slayer cannot consume the element that they produce themselves. This magic is the only way to kill Dragons, or even hurt them."

"Wow that's amazing!" said Ruby with a big smile.

Back to where the fight was going on the smoke finished clearing and Natsu saw Tyrian lying on his back. Tyrian groaned and proped himself on his knees and hands coughing blood in the process. He then got up with a goofy smile and said at Natsu. "Hahahaha this is fun! Your fun to fight kid! Let's keep going Hahahah!"

After this both Tyrian and Natsu dashed at each other with the Dragon slayer having his fist enveloped in flames and started another trade of blows. Tyrian was the first to make mistake when he try to make an horizontal slash at Natsu head that the slayer ducked under and with a roar gave a hard flaming uppercut to the faunus's gut making him bend over in pain with his eyes buldging out of his sockets. Natsu was gonna send the faunus into the sky with a flaming kick but Tyrian grabbed his leg and slammed the pink-haired boy into the ground back first twice making him spit blood before being thrown into the air. Tyrian jumped after Natsu while spinning with his arms spread to cut the Dragon slayer in half "Die! DIE!" said the faunus while laughing psychotically.

Natsu used his feet like thrusters and dodged the attack by going over the faunus. At the same time Natsu grabbed Tyrian's tail and while rocketing toward the village threw him against a house cracking the wall he hit leaving him stuck. Unfortunately for Tyrian Natsu was not done as he stopped his feet thrusters the slayer ignited both his fists and prepared a new attack.

**"**With a flame on the right hand...and a flame on the left hand...When you combine the flames together...**Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!" **Natsu brought his hands together launching a big fireball at Tyrian which created a giant, destructive, fiery explosion when it hit that broke his Aura and destroyed the house he was stuck in and the one behind it. Natsu landed and glared at the smoke.

Before the smoke could clear though Tyrian jumped from it with the intent of stabbing Natsu with his stinger. Natsu's eyes widened and he back-flipped to avoid it making the stinger hit the ground cracking it. Unfortunately Tyrian's tail got stuck into the ground and Natsu took advantage of this.

**"Fire Dragon's Crushing Fang!" **with his right hand lit ablaze Natsu swiped at the tail in a claw-like fashion, cutting through it. Spurting purple fluid, the stinger bounces to the ground. Tyrian screams from the pain, reeling back.

"You bastard!" said Tyrian infuriated. He takes a step or two forward but is off balance. Tyrian takes a few awkward steps backwards, not engaging .

"She'll forgive you." thought Tyrian. He was going to run away but Natsu wasn't gonna give that chance.

With a dragonic glare Natsu said "This one is for Ruby!" he then took a deep breath with his cheeks inflating **"Fire Dragon's ROAR!" **screamed Natsu spewing out a large torrent of hot flames that made the ground steam from the high temperature towards Tyrian who just screamed in pain when they hit him. The roar envoleped Tyrian, a large part of the village and it continued going until the forest burning anything in its path. The surronding temperature increased making Ruby and the others sweat a bit aswell. Natsu decided to cut the roar leaving his mouth smoking with some flame licking it.

The results from the roar left everyone but Happy staring in horror at what looked like a natural disaster. Nothing was left unscathed, everything the flames touched had either burned to ashes or melted with everything still steaming. The ground? Scorched and melted in some parts. The houses and buildings? Melted. The trees? Burned to ashes and half the forest was still on fire. Tyrian? Well he was still standing but his eyes were blank and his mouth opened. His body was steaming and was full of burns, his clothes were burned and he only had a bit of his pants left. His wrist blades were glowing red and were starting to melt.

Qrow smirked and said "Strong, really strong." and then he thought _'Who would have thought there was someone this strong without Aura. I think this isn't even the full extent of his power, I mean the kid doesn't even look tired after using an attack of that magnitude.' _

"I-I have no words. He doesn't even look winded." said Ren in disbelief. Jaune just nodded.

"Whoa he's... AWESOME!" said Nora with stars in her eyes.

Happy nodded"Aye sir. This is Natsu's... Salamander's power."

_'Salamander.' _thought a stunned Ruby.

"Is it over, though? asked Jaune.

As if to answer his question Tyrian started falling into the ground while thinking _'Forgive me my Queen...He's just too strong.' _he then finally hit the ground unmoving and finally defeated.

"Guess that answers my question." said Jaune with a smile. The rest just laughed in response and in relief.

Afterwards Ruby placed Happy in the ground and started running foward leaving everyone confused. "Ruby?" said the Exceed while watching her get further away.

After staring a bit at Tyrian's unconscious form Natsu decided it was time to head back to the others. He turned around and started walking with his hands behind his head and a big grin in his face. After walking a bit he noticed Ruby running towards him so without stopping he lifted his hand to greet her while saying "Hey Ru—Aaah!" but he got knocked to the ground by her when she tackled him into a hug. "Ouch! Hey, what's the big ide—"

Ruby lifted her head from Natsu's chest to stare him in the eyes "You won!" said Ruby while giggling. "You kept your promise!"she added with a bright smile.

Natsu blinked twice before spourting his own bright smile and saying "Of course I did! And I didn't even break a sweat!"

Ruby giggled at this before looking at Natsu with concern saying "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I am. Just some scratches." said Natsu smilling.

Ruby didn't look too sure about this. So she crossed her arms and gave Natsu her best glare and "You better not be lying mister!" Natsu chuckled at this because the glare made her look cuter. Ruby pouted "I'm serious Salamander!" she said while pointing at his chest still pouting.

Natsu hugged Ruby while laughing making her blush "Seriously, I am fine! You worry too much Rubes." said Natsu to Ruby while stroking her hair making her blush even more.

Ruby was glad Natsu couldn't see her face because it was as red as her cape. So without looking at him because she was still blushing she said as she returned the hug "O-okay I-I'll believe you. Also... Rubes?"

"Yup! It's my new nickname for you, do you like it?" asked Natsu in a soft voice.

"I do." said Ruby with a small smile and no longer blushing before closing her eyes thinking _'He gave me a cute nickname... Hm he's also really warm and I like the way he strokes my hair... I could stay like this fore —' _Ruby's eyes widened and she blushed _'Ohmygosh!Ohmygosh!WhatareyouthinkingRuby!Badgirl!Bad!' _ she was cut out of her thoughts when she heard coughing.

"Hope I'm not interrupting something." said Qrow glaring at the pair making Ruby freeze. Qrow was followed by NJR, who were smiling at the scene, and Happy who was grinning mischievously at the pair.

Happy approached the pair and said to Ruby while giggling and covering his mouth with both paws "You loooove him!"

This woke Ruby from her stupor. She blushed madly and got off from on top of Natsu,with a speed that would leave her semblance jealous, and covered her head with her cape's hood to hide her red face. She started sputtering "S-sh-shut up you stupid cat!" while Natsu, who had gotten up aswell, glared at his partner with a tick mark on his head and a small blush.

"Well as fun as this is being... we should continue somewhere else, before Grimm show up. Plus Natsu and Happy still owe us a explanation and I don't think talking here is the best idea." said Qrow pointing at Tyrian. Everyoned nodded and started moving away from the village.

**Hey guys, fpinheiro 96 here! This my first published story so I hope you like it. I decided to write this because I think there aren't enough crossovers between Fairy Tail and RWBY two of my favorite series. Don't forget to review! **

**Until next time**!


	2. Chapter 2 - Explanations

**Hey guys! fpinheiro 96 here. I wanted to thank all of you for following and favoriting my story. I especially wanted to thank you for your kind reviews. I honestly wasn't expecting such good feedback because I'm a new writer and this is my first fanfic. Also some of you asked if I was going to give Natsu and Happy Aura and after reading your opinions, which I really appreciate, I decided to do just that. Regarding Semblances: Natsu's will be the removal of his motion sickness and Happy's will be a Battle form like Lily. One more thing, since what happens to Yang, Blake and Weiss is the same as canon I won't write it.**

**Now here's the chapter. Hope you like it.**

* * *

**Chapter 2 - Explanations and heart to hearts under the moonlight.**

_**/Forests of Anima/**_

Around a campfire, Natsu Dragneel, Happy, Ruby Rose, Qrow Branwen, Jaune Arc, Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie sit on four logs positioned in a square. Natsu and Ruby were sitting in the same log with Happy on the girl's lap. Nora and Ren were also sitting in a log together. Natsu and Happy have just finished telling them about their world.

"So let me get this straight:" Jaune began, Natsu and Happy nodded their heads for him to continue. "You're from a diferent world called Earthland where everyone can use magic and the one who use it are called wizards." Natsu and Happy nodded "Wizards join guilds where they take quests to earn a living. And your guild is called Fairy Tail."

Yup! We're from Fiore's number 1 guild!" said Natsu with a toothy grin

Ren continued "And you guys were fishing, in a lake where you had stopped to rest with your team, when you were headed back home after one of those quests." Natsu and Happy nodded again. "When a portal sucked you into this world."

"Aye sir" nodded Happy

"Yeah, that's the gist of it." said Natsu

"That is so freaking cool!" loudly exclaimed Ruby and Nora with stars in their eyes

"Yeah, our world is pretty awesome." shrugged Natsu. "There's all kinds of creatures like Dragons and Demons... Hell even Gods." said Natsu with a big smile. Everyone's jaw dropped at this except Happy's.

"D-Dragons." stuttered Jaune.

"Demons." said Ren wide eyed.

"And Gods. Really?" said Qrow. Natsu nodded. _'So his world has Gods too.' _thought Qrow. "Man, I need a drink." said Qrow before taking a swig from his flask.

"Awesome!" exclaimed Ruby with a big smile before asking excited "Have you seen them?"

"Oh, have you? Please tell me you have!" exclaimed Nora jumping up and down in her seat.

Natsu laughed at their enthusiasm and answered with a grin "I haven't seen Gods but, I've seen Dragons and Demons... fought them too. Hell my dad Igneel is a Dragon." Everyone's eyes but Happy's widened

"Your dad is a Dragon?!" exclaimed Jaune. Natsu nodded smilling "But you look human!"

"Adoptive dad. Igneel found Natsu ,when he was a baby, in a forest and adopted him. He was the one who taught Natsu his Fire Dragon slayer magic" said Happy.

"That's actually pretty cool." said Qrow taking another swig from his flask.

"I know, right?" said Ruby while looking at her team. They nodded smilling

"So you belive us?" asked a Natsu. Everyone except Happy nodded.

"Um, yeah." Qrow looked at Natsu and replied with a shrug. "Look kid, we saw you fall from a portal, eat an explosion, punch and kick with fire and spit fire. You did all this without having your Aura unlocked, wich means no semblance, and without using Dust. What other explanation could there be?" said Qrow taking a swig from his flask and RNJR just nodded with a smile.

Natsu chuckled "Well when you put that way."

Nora looked at Natsu with a big smile and asked "Can you tell us some of your adventures?"

"Of course, but some other time. Now we have some questions of our own." Nora pouted but nodded. Natsu then asked "Ruby said this world is called Remnant, right?" Everyone but Happy nodded. "Can you tell us a bit about this world? Like what's this Aura you spoke of? And these Grimm?"

Happy added " You also mentioned Semblances and Dust. What are those?"

"Sure, I'll tell ya." said Qrow closing his flask. "So this world is called Remnant and..." Qrow then told them about Remnant. He explained the world's geography and technology, he told them about the faunus and the White Fang, he then told told them about Hunters and Huntresses, about the Creatures of Grimm, Aura, Dust and Semblances. "... And that's basically it. Any questions?" finished Qrow. Natsu and Happy were silent and staring at the ground with shadows covering their eyes.

Ruby concerned at their silence asked "Guys, is everything ok—?

"Can you show us your weapons?!" shouted Natsu and Happy, with stars on their eyes, before Ruby could finish her question. Everyone just looked at them in stunned silence before Qrow started laughing his ass off.

"Ahahahahahah a-after everything I told you just want to see our weapons. I like you kids." said Qrow wiping a tear from his eye. "Sure, why not. This is Harbringer and its a sword that can turn into a shotgun and a scythe." said Qrow showing his sword.

"Badass!" said Natsu and Happy with big smiles.

"Oh me next, me next!" said Ruby with an excited smile before unfurling her scythe. "This is my baby, Crescent Rose. It's a high impact sniper-scythe! So what do you think... "Ruby then said while giggling "I'm kind of a dork when it comes to weapons, sooo... I guess I did go a little overboard when designing it."

"You made this?!" asked Natsu amazed. Ruby just nodded with a smile. "Whoa Rubes, your amazing!"

Ruby blushed. "Aw shucks!" said Ruby embarrased while giggling and fiddling with her thumbs.

"Did you guys also make your weapons?" asked Happy. Everyone but Jaune nodded. "What about you Jaune?" asked Happy.

"Mine is a hand-me-down. My great-great-grandfather used it to fight in the war." answered Jaune showing his sword. "It's called Crocea Mors. I also have this shield." added Jaune showing his shield. "It's not as impressive as the others, I know." said Jaune dejectedly.

"What are you talking about, man? This sword is freaking awesome! It looks like it can cut through anything!" said Natsu excitedly and Happy nodded at this.

"Thanks, guys." said Jaune with a small smile.

"Guess I'll go next, then." said Ren before taking out his weapon "This is StormFlower. They consist of a pair of fully automatic pistols with sickle-like blades attached vertically under the barrels."

"So cool!" said Natsu and Happy excitedly.

"My turn! Prepare to be amazed!" said Nora with a big excited smile before taking out her weapon. "This Magnhild. It is a large hammer, with the secondary form of a grenade launcher. Pretty cool, huh?" said Nora with a proud smile

"Aye, sir!" said Happy excitedly.

"It's awesome!" said Natsu excitedly. Natsu then took a more serious expression and said "I just have one more thing I want to ask. Who was that guy, Ruby? Why was he after you?"

"I don't know." said Ruby shaking her head before looking at Qrow "I was hoping Uncle Qrow could answer that." she added. Everyone looked at Qrow expectantly.

Qrow looks at them for a moment before sighing and taking a swig from his flask. "What's your favorite fairy tale?" he asked leaving everyone confused. "You see some of Remnant's fairy tales are real, like the Tale of the Four Seasons...". Qrow then told them the story of the Maidens. There is silence afterwards and Qrow takes a swig from his flask.

"So these Maidens can use magic?" asked Natsu and Qrow nodded. "And they're powerful?"asked Natsu and Qrow nodded again. Natsu then slammed his fist into his palm, with flames releasing in the process. "I wanna fight them!" said Natsu grinning with excitment. Everyone but Happy blinked at this.

"You... want to... fight them? asked Qrow just to be sure.

"Yup! I'm getting all fired up just from thinking it." said Natsu grinning with excitment. Ruby coudn't help but smile at his excitment.

"Gotta love that enthusiasm." said Qrow smirking.

"Aye! That's Natsu for ya!" said Happy smilling.

Qrow turned to the others and asked "What about you guys? Don't you have any questions?"

"Of course we have questions. This is just... a lot to take in." said Jaune

"Sure, of course." sighed Qrow.

"So these... Maidens... They're powerful fighters that don't need Dust to use magic." said Ruby

"Yeah." said Qrow

"Are they like Natsu and Happy?" asked Ruby.

"No. A Maidens magic is more like a secondary Semblance. They need Aura to use it...like a lot of it." explained Qrow.

"That means they can't use it a lot, right?" asked Happy. "Because they'll spend all their Aura otherwise." he added.

"If only it were that easy." said Qrow shaking his head. "They use a lot of Aura to use magic but they regenerate it almost as fast." he added.

"And there are four of them?" asked Nora.

"Yup. Always." said Qrow

"Which means that, whenever one of them dies, the power transfers to someone - a female - that they cared about?" questioned Ren.

"Whoever was in their thoughts last. Important distinction. Best option is someone we can trust. Regardless, their souls become combined, in a way." answered Qrow.

"And that's what you were trying to do to Pyrrha... the night the tower fell. You were trying to turn her into one of them." said Jaune frowning.

_"Who's Pyrrha?" _thought Natsu and Happy.

"The previous Fall Maiden, Amber, had been attacked. She was young, inexperienced. And her assailant, who we now know is Cinder, somehow managed to steal some of her power, but not all of it. We were afraid that if we didn't do something, the rest would go to her as well." said Qrow.

"So you forced it on Pyrrha." said Jaune angrily.

"We didn't force anything. We explained the situation and gave her the choice, and she chose. You were there, you heard her." said Qrow. Jaune hangs his head.

"Who's Pyrrha?" asked Natsu. Ruby, Ren and Nora looked at the ground aswell with sad looks on their faces.

Jaune looked up with a sad expression."A good friend of ours, that died." said Jaune before getting up and walking several feet away from group. Everyone watches him go.

_'Jaune.' _thought Happy sadly.

"That guy, Tyrian - why was he after me?" asked Ruby

Qrow sighed "Well, you definitely painted a target on your back with what you did at Beacon. I told you having silver eyes is a rare trait. And the fact that you were able to use them seems to have upset some very powerful people. Not many people know about the silver eyes. Those that do aren't very happy that one has surfaced. That's why I've been keeping an eye on you in order to make sure you were safe. All of you."

"Well, then, why not just travel with us? It seems like that would've been way easier." said Ruby.

Jaune answers her loudly enough to be heard, but with his back still turned to everyone "He was using you as bait."

Natsu gave a dragonic glare at Qrow. "You were using your own niece as bait?!" asked Natsu angrily.

"Look, I wouldn't put it like that - it's complicated." said Qrow but Natsu didn't drop the glare.

Jaune turns to face him before saying "What is all of this? Ruby's being hunted, the schools are being attacked, all for what?! What is the point of all of this?! Will you just tell us what's going on?!"

Qrow stares at them, then slouches over with a sigh "Would you sit down? And would you drop the glare? You're stressin' me out, kids." Natsu stops glaring and Jaune sits back down on his log and crosses his arms.

Qrow starts to take another swig, but changes his mind before the flask reaches his lips. "Not many people are super religious these days." said Qrow before closing and setting the flask down. "This world's been around for a long time, long enough that people have created dozens of gods. But if you believe Ozpin, two of them are actually real. They were two brothers. The older sibling, the god of light, found joy in creating forces of life. Meanwhile, the younger brother, the god of darkness, spent his time creating forces of destruction. As you can imagine, they both had pretty different ideas about how things should go. The older one would spend his days creating water, plants, wildlife. And at night, his brother would wake to see all the things that the elder had made and become disgusted. To counteract his brother's creations, the god of darkness brought drought, fire, famine, all he could do to rid Remnant of life. Life always returned. So one night, the younger brother went and made something - something that shared his innate desire to destroy anything and everything.

"The creatures of Grimm." said Ruby.

"You guessed it. The older brother finally had enough. Knowing that their feud couldn't last like this forever, he proposed that they make one final creation... together, something that they could both be proud of, their masterpiece. The younger brother agreed. This last great creation would be given the power to both create and destroy. It would be given the gift of knowledge, so that it could learn about itself and the world around it. And most importantly, it would be given the power to choose, to have free will to take everything it had learned and decide which path to follow - the path of light or the path of darkness. And that is how Humanity came to be." said Qrow.

"But... what does that have to do with us?" asked Ren

"Well, that's the kicker. See, the four gifts to mankind - knowledge, creation, destruction and choice - aren't just metaphorical. Each of them exists in a physical form, left behind by the gods before they abandoned Remnant, and each of them is extraordinarily powerful. If someone were to collect all four, they'd be able to change the world. That's exactly what the enemy wants. The Huntsman Academies were created to train generations of Humanity's protectors, but they also serve another purpose - guarding the Relics. When Ozpin's predecessor founded the schools, he built them around the Relics to act as a fortress. Not only would they be easier to defend, but they would constantly be surrounded by trained warriors. The hope was that hiding them would keep mankind from using them against itself... and, of course, keeping them out of her reach." answered Qrow. "So yeah, there's that." he added.

"Her. You mean Salem?" asked Ruby

"Salem?" said Natsu confused.

"That's right. Not much is known about her. Quite frankly, that's not what matters. What matters right now is that she wants the Relics, and if she gets them, it's not going to end well." answered Qrow.

"Alright. So, let's say we believe all this. There really is this crazy evil being behind these attacks, not just some thugs trying to become powerful. Why doesn't the world know? Why isn't Atlas going after them? Or Mistral?" asked Jaune.

"And why aren't we in more of a hurry to get to Haven? Shouldn't we be getting them a message? What if they're next?" said Nora adding her own questions.

"The headmaster over there saw what happened to Beacon. He's not dumb. He'll be on his guard. Besides, it takes time to mobilize forces like that. Do you really think they planned out that attack on Beacon overnight?" said Qrow. He pointed at Jaune before continuing. "And to answer your question, it's the same reason we keep quiet about the Maidens. If the whole world knew about the Relics, about Salem, there would be chaos. There'd be another Great War on our hands, and this time, you'd have to fight." he finished by pointing at Jaune again. Jaune turns away. "Look, I had the same questions, too. But ol' Ozpin would always put his foot down. "We can't cause a panic." Heh, can't tell you how many times I've heard that. Salem's smart. She works from the shadows, using others to get what she wants, so that when it comes time to place the blame, we can only point at each other. She's trying to divide us - humanity, and so far she's done a pretty damn good job." said Qrow. Leaning back, Qrow looks up at the broken moon. Then he looks ahead and sighs.

"Alright, so what should we do?" asked Ruby.

"Isn't it obvious, Rubes? We kick Salem's ass!" said Natsu grinning.

"It's not that simple. We don't even know where she is, Natsu." said Ruby.

"That's why we start by getting the relics and protecting them." said Natsu still grinning. RNJR looked confused. Noticing that Natsu explained "Eventually Salem's goons will came hitting on our doorstep looking for them. We beat them up and get them too tell us where Salem is and then we take the fight to her." RNJR looked at each other in understanding.

Everyone turns their gaze to Qrow when he starts chuckling. "Natsu got it in a nutshell."

Happy turned to Natsu and said"Whoa Natsu, who would have thought that your brain can actually make plans"

"Hey! Are you calling me stupid?!" said Natsu with a comically angry expression. Happy looked away and whistled. Natsu pouted and grumbled "Stupid cat." Everyone laughed at their interaction.

Qrow then said "Okay back to business, guys." Everyone looked at him. "Ozpin has put a lot of trust in the headmasters. Like I said, the schools are an important part of stopping Salem. Atlas is going to be on high alert after the last attack, and Vacuo is - well, Vacuo. It'll be hard to hire thieves and scoundrels to fight against other thieves and scoundrels. Take that, add in the fact that Cinder and her crew claim to be from Haven, and I think it's likely the next target. So, we're on our way to the headmaster. Haven't heard from him in a while, even before the attack. I'm hoping he has the answers." He looked at the moon before looking at them and saying "Alright, I think it's time you kids got some sleep."

"Uncle Qrow?" said Ruby.

"Yeah?" said Qrow.

Ruby stoop up while saying "This is a lot to take in, and it all sounds crazy, but... I'm willing to do whatever I can to help because I trust you. But why couldn't you trust me? Why couldn't you just travel with us, instead of this secrecy, and, and-"

Qrow inturrupted Ruby by saying "Look, this has nothing to do with trust. I- It's a long story, okay?"

"Seriously? Now you're tired of telling us stories?" asked Nora.

Qrow stares at the fire in silence before speaking. As he talks he kneels down, picks up a stick and pokes at the fire. "Did you know that crows are a sign of bad luck? Old superstition, but it's how I got my name. See, some people can absorb electricity and some people can burst into rose petals and some people are just born unlucky. My Semblance isn't like most - it's not exactly something I do. It's always there, whether I like it or not. I bring misfortune." Qrow chuckles bitterly before continuing "I guess you could call me a bad luck charm. Comes in real handy when I'm fighting an enemy, but it makes it a little hard on friends..." He then looks over at Ruby "and family." He gets up.

"Well, you are just a real bundle of help, aren't you?" said Jaune sarcastically. Ruby, Nora, Happy turn to glare at Jaune. Natsu gritted his teeth and clenched his fists before getting up. Natsu started walking to Jaune with shadows covering his eyes.

"Yeah." said Qrow. He turns around and walks away from the campfire, slowly.

At this point Natsu got to Jaune and picked him up by the colar. "Hey! What do you think y-" said Jaune stopping mid-sentence when he saw the angry dragonic glare Natsu was giving him.

"Don't spit on the intentions behind someone's actions, like that. If the drive behind one's actions is the thought of another, then it is never meaningless Jaune." This made everyone's eyes widen specially Qrow's who had stopped walking. "Qrow did what he did thinking of Ruby and his family wellbeing, so it wasn't meaningless. Got that?" said Natsu glaring at the knight before putting him back down.

Jaune stared at the ground, before looking at Qrow and saying apologetically "S-sorry I... I didn't mean to..."

"I know kid, I know. Apology accepted." said Qrow with a small sad smile. He turned around and started walking away again.

"Where are you going?" asked Ren.

"Taking a walk." said Qrow

"There's nothing else you want to tell us?" asked Ruby.

A red-eyed raven lands on a tree branch with a quiet caw. Qrow looks at it, and it cocks its head, looking at him. Natsu looked at the bird too and noticed something strange about it.

'_This scent... It's just like...'_ thought Natsu staring at Qrow.

"Not tonight." said Qrow before turning around. Ruby watches Qrow, concerned. He continues his slow walk away but a voice stops him before he can get away from the group.

"Wait, Qrow!" said Natsu. Qrow turned to look at him. Natsu looked at him seriously and asked "When are you gonna stop torturing yourself?" Qrow looked confused. "When are you gonna stop running away from your family?" asked Natsu.

"I thought you said what I did wasn't meaningless." said Qrow.

"Don't get me wrong, it wasn't. Afterall you did what you did, to protect your family. " said Natsu with a serious look while walking to Qrow. When Natsu reached Qrow he continued "That said, while you did protect them by staying away, you also hurt them and you hurt yourself. So there's no way this is the right way to do things. You get that, right?"

"I...I." said Qrow looking at the ground with a sad expression before looking up. "I already told you I'm a bad luck charm. This is the only way t-" said Qrow but he was stopped mid-setence.

"Cut the crap! You don't even believe that! Your just scared! " said Natsu angrily. Qrow gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. "Your scared of hurting Ruby! Your scared that she blames you if something goes wrong! But most of all your afraid that she leaves yo-!" said Natsu angrily but he was interrupted mid-sentence.

"So what if I am!" shouted Qrow angrily while punching Natsu in the jaw sending him to the ground. "I just don't want to lose anyone I care about, ever again. Specially because of a crappy Semblance I can't control." said Qrow, with a sad expression, looking at the ground and clenching his fists. Everyone looked in sadness at Qrow.

_'Uncle Qrow.' _thought Ruby with tears in her eyes.

Natsu got up and spitted blood. "It's your Semblance!" shouted Natsu angrily while punching Qrow sending him to the ground. Qrow layed on his back unmoving "You tell It what to do, not the other way around!" shouted Natsu. Qrow's eyes widened and he sitted up abruptly to look at Natsu. "The only thing stopping you from controlling it is that fear. But you see fear isn't evil, it only allows us to learn our own weaknesses. When we learn our weaknesses, people can grow stronger and kinder." said Natsu. Everyone looked at Natsu in stunned silence. "You know your weakness. Now what will you do? You get stronger! You get up and face that fear! "said Natsu. Everyone's eyes widened. "On your own you might be too afraid to stand up to it! But we're all right here, together! You've got your friends and family close by!" said Natsu while motioning to himself, Happy and RNJR. "So there's nothing to be afraid of, because you are not alone!" said Natsu pointing at Qrow. Qrow looked at the ground while everyone else smiled at Natsu words.

_'Fear isn't evil because it shows us our weaknesses, huh.' _thought Ren smilling.

_'When we learn our weakness, people can grow stronger and kinder.' _thought Jaune smilling.

_'As long as we have our friends...' _thought Nora smilling.

_'There's nothing to fear.' _thought Ruby smilling. She looked at Natsu's back with a small blush and thought _'He's so bright and warm... just like a ray of sunshine in the darkness... just like mom.'_

"So what's it gonna be Qrow? Are you going to keep running?" said Natsu pointing at the forest. He then held his hand to Qrow saying "Or are gonna stay and face your fear?

"I... I..." said Qrow before looking at the ground. _'I have nothing to be afraid of...' _thought Qrow before looking at everyone, his eyes lingering on Ruby, and thinking _'...because I'm not alone.' _thought Qrow. He smirked and took Natsu's hand who smirked back and pulled him up.

Ruby seeing this ran at Qrow and gave him a hug. "Does that mean you'll never leave again? asked Ruby

Qrow hugged her back and said while patting her head "That's right kiddo. I'm done running. It's about time I tell my Semblace who's boss. I promise I'll never leave you guys again." said Qrow smilling.

Tears started faling from Ruby's eyes and she said, with a small smile "I'll hold you to it." They broke the hug.

Qrow then looked at Natsu, with a small smile and said " Thank kid, for everything."

"Don't mention it." said Natsu with a big toothy smile and his hands behind his head.

"Well we had enough excitment, for one day. So I think we should turn in for the night." said Qrow. Everyone nodded and got ready to sleep. Team RNJR put their sleeping bags on the ground and layed on them. Happy decided to sleep with Ruby while Natsu and Qrow would take the ground.

When Ruby saw everyone was asleep, she got up carefully, so she didn't wake Happy up, and walked to where Natsu was sleeping. She shook his shoulder and whispered "Natsu, wake up." Natsu opened his eyes and saw Ruby

"Ruby?" whispered Natsu before sitting up while yawning. Then he asked "Is something wrong?"

"N-n-no." she whispered shaking her head. "I, huh... I just... just wanted to thank you for helping my Uncle." whispered Ruby with a small blush . She bit her lip and fiddled with her thumbs. "So... huh... T-thank you." she whispered before placing a small kiss in Natsu's cheek. Natsu's eyes widened, his mouth opened and he blushed. Ruby? Well she blushed madly and got up abruply "That'sallIwantedtosay!Sleepwell!Goodnight!" she whispered really fast before running away and getting inside her sleeping bag.

Natsu with a small blush and his mouth still opened thought 'What the...' before laying back down getting back to sleep.

Meanwhile a still madly blushing Ruby was freaking out 'Ohmygosh!Ohmygosh!Ohmygosh!Ikissedhim!Ikissedhim!Onthecheek,butstill!Ican'tbelieveIdidthat!RubyRosewhat'swrongwithyou?!' she thought before taking a deep breath to calm herself. Then she closed her eyes and tried to get back to sleep, key word tried.

A couple of hours later Natsu woke up to the sound of an unknown girl's voice. He sat up and saw Jaune's sleeping bag empty. Sniffing the air he discovered that Jaune was in the same place where the voice was coming from but he could only pick up his scent. Blinking in confusion he got up to find the source of that voice. Ruby, who was still awake, got up to follow Natsu already knowing what he was going to find. She went as quietly as possible so Natsu didn't notice her.

Natsu, who thanks to his enhanced sense of smell noticed Ruby following him, reached the source of the voice and his mouth falls open. Gazing with concern, Natsu moves next to a tree and watches from there. Ruby had hid behind a tree not to far from there.

A slight distance in front of Natsu, but facing away, Jaune draws his sword. He poses with it and the shield, before dropping his shoulders and turning to his right. His Scroll is set up on a stump. "Alright, Jaune, just like we practiced. Follow these instructions. Shield up." said Pyrrha. Jaune lifts his shield so that only his eyes up are not protected. "Keep your grip tight." said Pyrrha. Jaune tightens his hand on Crocea Mors. "Don't forget to keep your front foot forward." said Pyrrha. Jaune hasn't forgotten and doesn't need to move. "Ready? Go." said Pyrrha. Jaune steps forward with the sword, cutting at the air and making a fighting cry. "Again!" shouted Pyrrha. Jaune moves forward with his other foot, again slashing the air and releasing a cry. "And again." said Pyrrha. Jaune spins in a circle, putting a lot of feeling and effort into his next cry and slash. It has cost him a bit, and he pants. "Okay. Now assuming you aren't cheating, we can take a break." giggled Pyrrha. Jaune stands upright and lets his head fall forward a bit, closing his eyes. "I know this can be frustrating..." said Pyrrha. Jaune turns toward Pyrrha's image on his Scroll. "...and it can feel like so much effort to progress such a small amount, but I want you to know that I'm proud of you. I've never met someone so determined to better themselves. You've grown so much since we started training. We now see only Pyrrha's recorded image on the Scroll. The green lights of the once tall and unbroken Beacon Tower, the place where she would later die, glow behind her. "And I know this is just the beginning." said Pyrrha before turning her head, struggling with her thoughts for a moment. "Jaune, I-I..." said Pyrrha. A wide shot shows Jaune taking a step closer to his Scroll with tears in his eyes. Pyrrha places her hands over her heart and speaks "I want you to know that I'm just happy to be a part of your life. I'll always be here for you, Jaune." The Scroll rewinds the video of Pyrrha without being touched. Jaune falls on his knees before it, letting go of Crocea Mors, his head bowed no longer able to hold his tears.

Jaune grabs his Scroll and stops the video. "I'm sorry Pyr... I'm so sorry." cried Jaune. Ruby watched this with tears falling from her eyes. Natsu had enough and walked to Jaune. Natsu sitted himself next to Jaune and placed a hand in his shoulder. "N-n-natsu? What are you doing here?" said Jaune still crying.

"Heard a noise and I came to check it out." said Natsu with a small sad smile. He pointed a the scroll and said "So, that's Pyrrha, huh?". Jaune nodded, wiping his tears. "She seems like a great person. Strong too." said Natsu with a sad smile.

"She was." Jaune nodded. "She was called Invisible Girl, because she never lost, you know." added Jaune with a sad look.

"Really?" asked Natsu in surprise and Jaune nodded. Natsu then looked at the moon. "Man, I would have loved to fight her." said Natsu with a small smile.

"I think she would have loved to fight you too." said Jaune with a sad smile.

Natsu looked at Jaune and gave him a small smile. "Can you tell me more about her?" asked Natsu.

Jaune nodded. "I met Pyrrha in Beacon when..." He told Natsu about the Beacon Initiation, about their classes in Beacon, about their training together and the prom.

"Ahahahahah! S-so you p-put on a dress and went to prom?" asked Natsu laughing. Jaune nodded and Natsu laughed his ass off again "That's hilarious! Ahahahahah!". Ruby remembering what happened was laughing aswell behind a tree, covering her mouth so no one could hear her.

"Hey, what can I say? An Arc never goes back on his word!" said Jaune before joined the laughter. When they stopped he told Natsu about the Vytal Festival, about the Fall of Beacon and the death of Pyrrha. After this point Jaune was crying again and Natsu had his hand in Jaune's shoulder to show support. "It was my fault... If I was stronger I could have helped her... I could've saved her. I'm a failure! It should've been me dying that day not her!" cried Jaune.

"Your wrong! Your not a failure! I don't think your one and neither did Pyrrha!" said Natsu with a glare, grabbing the knight's shoulders. Jaune's eyes widened. "And you wouldn't have changed anything even if you were stronger because Pyrrha decided to sacrifice herself. Pyrrha knew she would lose that fight but she still went through with it, do you know why?" asked Natsu. Jaune was gonna answer but the Dragon Slayer beat him to it "For you, for her friends, her family! She did it to pave a way for a better future, to make a difference! And your saying you should've died? That's like spitting in her sacrifice!" Jaune's. Natsu asked "Don't you have something to live for?".

Jaune looked to the ground saying "I-I..." before looking at Natsu. "I have my friends and my family." said Jaune in understanding.

Natsu said "That's right! You've got to live for the friends and family you have left. I'm not telling you to forget Pyrrha. No, you should keep here" Natsu pointed at Jaune's heart "That way she'll never truly die." Natsu got up. "But you need to move foward. Do you think Pyrrha wants to see you sad and crying?" asked Natsu holding his hand to Jaune.

"No... She woudn't." answered Jaune before grabbing Natsu's hand with a determined stare.

"Then you need to keep moving foward, to keep smiling." said Natsu with a small smile pulling the Knight up. Jaune smiled aswell "And if you don't want to lose anyone you care for ever again, then get stronger!" said Natsu still smilling.

"Your right, Natsu. I've cried enough. I'll live for my family and friends. I'll keep smilling. I won't waste the future Pyrrha got us, nor will I let her sacrifice be in vain. And I'll get stronger to protect everyone!" said Jaune with a determined smile.

Ruby, who had been listening to the entire talk, smiled at this. _'Thank you, Natsu.' _she thought happy that Jaune was back to how he used to be.

"That's right, buddy! When your sad speak of the future, and that will give you the strength to live." said Natsu with a big toothy smile.

"Right!" said Jaune with a big smile. He held his fist to the Dragon slayer "Thanks Natsu."

"Anytime Jaune!" said Natsu with his signature smile while fist-bumping Jaune's fist.

Jaune stretched his muscles before saying "I think I had enough training for one night. I'm going back to sleep." . He picked up Crocea Mors looked at Natsu and asked "You coming?"

"Nah, not really sleepy right now. I'm gonna stay to stretch my legs for a bit." said Natsu with a carefree smile and his hands behind his head.

Jaune nodded and said "Goodnight, then."

"Night." said Natsu with a carefree smile and his hands behind his head. Jaune turn around and walked back to the campsite, passing by Ruby without noticing her. Natsu waited a bit before looking at a certain tree and saying smilling "You can come out now, Rubes."

"EEEEPPP!" squealed Ruby with a small blush at being found out. She walked to Natsu with a blush and chuckled awkwardly "H-hey, Natsu."

"Yo. Can't sleep?" said Natsu smilling and raising one hand.

Ruby remembering the kiss blushed harder and stammered "Y-y-yeah." Then she shook her head to fight off the blush and asked "Sooo... how did you find me?"

"Never underestimate a Dragon's nose!" said Natsu grinning and pointing at his nose.

"Oops!... I kinda forgot about that." said Ruby with a sheepish smile and scratching the back of her head.

"Plus, you have a really special scent. I could track you anywhere in the world." said Natsu still grinning.

"Are you saying I stink, mister?" said Ruby with a pout and a glare.

"Huh?! No! Where did you get that idea from?" said Natsu confused. He then gave Ruby his signature smile and said "You smell really good! Like roses, strawberries and chocolate-chip cookies! I really like it!"

Ruby blushed madly, with steam coming out of her ears, and said "Oh..." before looking at the ground, while pushing a strand of her hair behind her ear, and thinking with a small smile 'Oh my gosh! He likes the way I smell!'. Ruby then looked at Natsu, with big smile and a small blush. "Thanks, Natsu!" giggled Ruby. Natsu's eyes widened. To him, with the moonlight reflected in her silver eyes and a small breeze that made her hair and cape wave in the air, Ruby just looked-

_'Beatiful.' _thought Natsu with a small blush. Shaking the blush away he said "Y-your welcome." Natsu then pointed at a big tree. "Do you want to sit down for a bit?" he asked. Ruby nodded with a small smile. They sitted down, leaning their back's against the tree, and looked at the stars in comfortable silence. Natsu had his hands behind his head.

Ruby was the first to break the silence by saying with a small smile "You know, I haven't seen Jaune like that in a while." Natsu tilted his head in confusion. "Smilling and having that fire in his eyes." explained Ruby smilling before frowning. "Ever since Pyrrha died Jaune hasn't been himself. Her death hit all of us really bad, but Jaune took it the worst." said Ruby Natsu nodded. Then she smiled again and said "But thanks to you he's back to normal."

"Of course, I was gonna help him. We're friends and friends are friends because they help each other out." said Natsu a big smile.

Ruby still smilling nodded. Then she frowned and asked Natsu "Can I ask you something, Natsu?" He nodded. "The way you spoke... You were speaking from experience weren't you?"

Natsu looked at the ground saddened before grabbing his scarf and saying " See this scarf?" Ruby nodded. "Well this is a present from Igneel and it's the only thing, besides my magic, I have to remember him by." Ruby tilted her head in confusion "Igneel, my dad, was killed by another Dragon called Acnologia." Ruby's eyes widened "And I saw it happen right in front of my eyes, without being able to do something to save him." Ruby gasped in horror. "My whole world crumbled in an instant. I never felt so... so weak, so useless. I felt like giving up, but..." Natsu clenched his fist before continuing "Igneel didn't let me." Natsu smiled and continued "He told me to speak of the future... because that would give me strength to live. So on that day, I vowed... to live, to grow stronger to protect my friends... I vowed to defeat Acnologia." said Natsu. Ruby hugged him. "What's wrong, Rubes?" said Natsu hugging her back.

"We're the same. I lost my mom too and all I have to remember her is my cape."said Ruby in a small sad voice. Natsu's eyes widened "You know, she was the greatest mom ever. She baked the best cookies, she told bed-time stories, she was a Huntress, she had the whole-package. When she died on a mission, I was to young to completly understand what happened but, it didn't hurt any less. That's why I decided to be a Huntress, to protect my family, to protect everyone, to make sure no one had to go through what I did... And at first I thought I would be able to... But then Beacon fell..." said Ruby with some tears falling at the end. Ruby paused to wipe her tears before continuing and Natsu started stroking her her hair in comfort. "On that day, I lost two of my friends: Penny Polendina and Pyrrha Nikos. I didn't know them for very long, but that doesn't change the fact that they were two of the most kind-hearted people I have ever met. But that didn't save them. Pyrrha thought that if there was even the smallest chance of helping someone, then it was a chance worth taking. And because of that, she died fighting a battle she knew she couldn't win. And Penny... was killed... just to make a statement. I know I have to keep moving foward... And I'm trying to, but...It keeps getting harder and harder to do it" Ruby started crying openly "I'm just tired of losing everything! I feel like I'll never be strong enough to protect everyone I love... That I'm facing an unbeatable monster... And that scares me! It makes me want to give up!" said Ruby crying, while hugging Natsu harder.

Natsu, still stroking her hair, hugged Ruby tighter and let her cry into his chest. When she calmed down Natsu said "Ruby... The moment you think of giving up, think of the reason why you held on for so long."

Ruby's eyes widened. _'Why did I held on for so long?' _she asked herself before closing her eyes and remembering her dad, her mom, her sister, her uncle and all of her friends. As she remembered a small smile grew on her face. She opened her eyes and said "I remember." Ruby broked the hug , looked to Natsu with a small determined smile and said "I remember... It's for my dad, my sister, my uncle, and my friends... It's for the world my mom died protecting."

Natsu gave his signature smile and wiped the rest of Ruby's tears before saying "Good, never forget that! And don't worry, cause we're in this together... We'll beat whatever monster that comes our way, together... So don't give up, the beginning is always the hardest, but let's keep on going till the very end."

"Your right! If we're together no one can beat us!" said Ruby with a big determined smile and raising her fist.

"That's the spirit, Rubes!" said Natsu grinning. Ruby then gave Natsu a hug. "Rubes?" asked Natsu confused .

"Thanks for cheering me up!" said Ruby with a big smile.

Natsu smiled and hugged her back saying "No problem." They broke the hug and smiled at each other. "Wanna head back?" asked Natsu.

Ruby shook her head and said "No. I'm not really sleepy."

"Okay." nodded Natsu before crossing his arms in thought and asking "So, what should we do?"

"Hmm." said Ruby looking at the ground in thought. Ruby raised her head, looked at Natsu with a big smile and said "Oh, I know! Can you tell me some of your adventures in Fairy Tail?"

"Sure, but only if you tell me some of yours." said Natsu with his signature smile and Ruby nodded with a big excited smile. Natsu put a thinking expression and said "So where should I should I start?...Hmm..." Then Natsu grinned and said "I know! I'll start by telling you about my team's mission to Galuna Island!" Natsu looked at the ground with a sad expression "But to do that... I have to tell you... how I met Lucy..."

_'Who's Lucy? And why does Natsu seem so sad?' _thought Ruby frowning. "Are you all right Natsu?" asked Ruby with concern.

Natsu shook his head before looking and Ruby with a smal smile and said "Yeah, don't worry Rubes. So, me and Happy met Lucy in Hargeon when...". Natsu then told Ruby how he and Happy met Lucy and how he took her to Fairy Tail. Then since he told Ruby about Lucy he decided to tell her about the rest of his team at the time. So, he told Ruby about Gray and Erza. Then he told Ruby about the mission Ranks, about Everlue, about Eisenwald, about Galuna Island, about the war with Phantom Lord and about the Tower of Heaven. At this point Natsu said he would finish his story another time and that it was Ruby's turn. Ruby pouted but nodded and started telling her story. She told him about how she was acepted in Beacon, about Initiation, about Team Ruby, about classes, about finding out Blake's faunus heritage, about the food fight and the White Fang investigation. At this point they were both tired sleepy, but Ruby kept going. She was telling Natsu how she and Weiss infiltrated the CCT when she noticed he had fallen asleep.

Ruby gave a Natsu small smile before leaning in and giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Goodnight, Natsu." she whispered with a small blush. Ruby then hugged Natsu's arm against her chest, leaned her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes falling asleep aswell, with a small happy smile.

* * *

It is morning time at the campsite, and the birds are a-tweeting. Three teenagers and a Cat are in their sleeping bags, the campfire burned out in the middle. Qrow gets up and faces the group. "Guys, wake up" Everyone gets up and Qrow notices that two persons are missing. "Where's Ruby and Natsu?" he asked. NJR and Happy blinked, looked around and realized he was right.

"Well, I don't know about Ruby but... I might know where Natsu is." said Jaune scratching the back of his head.

"If we find Natsu, then he can use his sense of smell to find Ruby." said Happy and everyone nodded in agreement.

"Can you take us there?" asked Ren.

"Yeah, follow me." nodded Jaune before walking to the place where he last saw Natsu, with everyone following him. When they got there their eyes widened at what they saw. They saw Natsu and Ruby leaning against a tree, sleeping. Ruby was sleeping with her head resting on Natsu's shoulder, while hugging his arm against her chest, and Natsu was sleeping, with his head resting on her's. Both of them had happy peaceful smiles on their faces. The group had different reactions to this: Nora, Ren and Jaune were smiling, Happy was giggling mischievously and Qrow?... Was deathly quiet and had his eyes covered by a shadow.

"Awww! They're so cute!" cooed Nora.

"I have to agree with you, Nora" said Ren smilling.

"They love each other!" purred Happy.

"Guys, let's take a picture." said Jaune smilling and showing his scroll to Nora, Happy and Ren. They all nodded with smiles and with Nora taking out her own Scroll. Jaune and Nora took a picture each. "Man, I can't wait to show this to Yang and see her reaction." chuckled Jaune. "Don't you think so Qr-?" asked Jaune stopping mid-sentence when he turned to Qrow and palling. Why? Because Qrow had a pissed of expression and was surrounded by a dark aura. "Q-q-qrow, a-are you okay?" asked Jaune in fear. The others confused at this looked at Qrow and paled aswell.

"Peachy. Natsu's lucky I like him, though." said Qrow before taking a deep breath to calm himself._ 'I seriously have to pay more attention to this.' _thought Qrow as he stared at Natsu and Ruby. "Let's wake them up." said Qrow before walking to the sleeping pair. The others nodded and breathed in relief before followed him. When they reached the pair, Qrow said while clapping "Rise and shine, lovebirds."

Natsu and Ruby woke up at this point and looked at each other. Noticing their position they freeze. They both separate and get up as fast as they can with blushes on their faces. Natsu had a small blush and looked away from Ruby, while scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. Ruby blushing redder than her cape, looked at Qrow and the others and stammered waving her arms "G-guys this isn't w-what it looks like!"

"Sure, it isn't." said Qrow sarcastically rolling his eyes.

"Oh yeah! They definitely weren't cuddling. Right, guys?" said Nora sarcastically while looking at Ren, Happy and Jaune.

"Right." nodded Ren.

"Aye, sir!" nodded Happy.

"Right, right." nodded Jaune before looking at Ruby, showing his scroll to her, and saying with a smug grin "This picture tells otherwise, though." Seeing the picture, Ruby froze.

"You love each other!" purred Happy and Nora with grins on their faces.

"S-shut up!" shouted Natsu with a small blush and a comically angry expression. Ruby on the other hand blushed even harder and put on her hood to hide her face. Everyone else laughed at their embarrassment.

"Okay, enough teasing these two. We should go eat something and get moving, because we still have a lot of ground to cover." chuckled Qrow. Everyone nodded and headed back to the campsite to eat breakfast. After eating they started packing to leave but before they finished Natsu walked to Qrow.

"Fight me, Qrow!" said Natsu pointing at Qrow, with an excited smile.

"EEEHHH!" shouted everyone, but Happy and Ruby, in suprise.

"Of course." sweatdropped Happy.

"W-why?" asked Jaune flabbergasted.

"Simple, he's strong. I can tell he's way stronger then the scorpion guy I fought yesterday. So, I want test myself against him." said Natsu with an excited smile.

Ruby smiled at his enthusiasm. "You really like fighting, don't you?" asked Ruby looking at Natsu. She already knew the answer to this, though because of the stories Natsu told her.

Natsu looked at Ruby with a big smile and said "Yup!" before turning to Qrow with a grin and asking "So, what do you say?"

_'This could be a good oportunity, to see if he's got what it takes to fight a Maiden.' _thought Qrow before smirking and saying "Sure, I'll take you on."

"Awesome!" cheered Natsu before taking a fighting stance. "Now I'm getting all fired up!" said Natsu with a dragonic grin with flames licking his body.

Qrow chuckled and turned to the others saying "You should step back." The others nodded and moved away from them. Qrow grabbed Harbinger and took a fighting stance. "Ready?" he asked. Natsu nodded with a dragonic grin. "Then, let's begin." said Qrow.

Both dashed at each other. Natsu ignited his right fist and gave Qrow a flaming punch. At the same time Qrow gave a horizontal slash at Natsu. Both attacks met in the middle and clashed creating a shockwave that signalled the start of an epic fight.

* * *

**And that's it for this chapter guys! Hope you liked it! Next one we'll have the fight between Natsu and Qrow.**

**Don't forget to leave your reviews.**

**fpinheiro96 out!**


	3. Chapter 3 - Natsu vs Qrow

**Hey guys! fpinheiro 96 here. I wanted to thank all of you for following and favoriting my story. I especially wanted to thank you for your kind reviews. **

**Now here's the chapter. Hope you like it.**

* * *

**Chapter 3 - Natsu vs Qrow. Ren and Nora's past.**

**/Forests of Anima/**

Roaring Natsu and Qrow tried to overpower one another, with the ground cracking under the pressure of their attacks. Seeing that he was going to lose the power struggle Qrow jumped backwards to gain some distance, with Natsu dashing after him ._ 'Ok, there's no way I'll beat him in a contest of strength.' _thought Qrow before sidestepping a left punch from Natsu and spinning to give the Dragon Slayer a horizontal slash to his chest. Natsu, in a show of impressive speed and reflexes, bent his back to dodge the sword.

**"Fire Dragon's Claw!" **lifting himself in a handstand Natsu, igniting his left foot, gave Qrow a flaming kick sending him flying a couple of feet before he fliped and landed. As soon as he touched the ground, Qrow dashed at Natsu faster than before and gave him a vertical downward slash. Natsu's eyes widened, in surprise at this speed, and he catched the sword at the last second with both hands leaving his stomach opened. Qrow took advantage of this and in quick succession gave Natsu a knee to the gut, that made him spit saliva and release Harbringer, and a spinning back-kick to the face that sent him flying a couple of feet, with the Huntsman running after him. As soon as his back touched the ground, Natsu pushed himself up, using his hands, and dodged a diagonal slash from Qrow, by swaying his body to the left, before spinning counter-clockwise and litting his left elbow ablaze.

**"Fire Dragon's Flame Elbow!" **Natsu gave Qrow a flaming elbow to the face sending him flying. Natsu jumped into the air and igniting both fists.

**"Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!"** Natsu brought his hands together launching a big fireball at Qrow. Unfortunately for Natsu, Qrow recovered quickly from his previous blow, by back-flipping in the air, and landed in the ground before turning his sword into his shotgun form, and shooting a Fire Dust round at the fireball, detonating it before it could reach him and creating a giant, fiery explosion whose smoke covered both fighters view. Natsu wasn't stopped by this and, before the smoke cleared, he created an explosion under his foot to rocket himself toward Qrow, through the smoke at high-speed, and gave him a right punch. Qrow's eyes widened, in surprise at this, before turning his shotgun into a sword and using it's flat end to block the punch creating a small shockwave and cracking the ground in the process. Qrow then sent Natsu flying, by swinging his sword to the side, with the Dragon Slayer skidding to a stop a couple of meters away. Natsu dashed at Qrow, who turned his sword into a shotgun and started shooting the Dragon Slayer with Lightning Dust powered projectiles. Natsu managed to dodge the first two projectiles but was hit in the chest by the third one electrocuting him in the process. "Gaaah!" shouted Natsu in pain. Qrow took advantage of this opening and dashed at Natsu turning his shotgun in to a sword and giving him a horizontal slash to the chest. Natsu recovered and ducked under the slash litting both of his fist ablaze.

**"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!" **Natsu crossed his arms before spreading them open producing a large streams of fire, in the rough shape of Dragon's wings, from each of his hands that hit Qrow and not only burned him, but at the same time sent him flying a couple of meters behind the Dragon Slayer, due to the blunt force of the produced fire, before he hit the ground. Qrow got up, took a fighting stance again and glared at Natsu, who did the same only his glare was dragonic.

Both stared at each other for a bit before smirking and dashing at each other, with Natsu having his fists lit ablaze, and started a fast trade of punches, kicks, knees, slashes and elbows that were either dodged, blocked, deflected or met with another attack. This continued without one gaining advantage over the other until Qrow ducked under a flaming punch from Natsu and gave him an upward diagonal slash, that went from his midsection to his chest, cutting him with blood gushing from the wound. Qrow followed with a downward slash but Natsu blocked it by crossing his arms above his head, with both his fists and forearms lit ablaze. Gritting his teeth, Natsu spreaded his arms opened and sent Harbringer flying backwards, from Qrow's hands, a few meters before falling to the ground and getting stuck.

**"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"** Natsu gave Qrow a hard flaming right punch to the gut creating a fiery explosion and sending him flying a few meters before he hit the ground close to Harbringer.

Qrow groaned and proped himself on one knee coughing some blood. "Man, that was some punch. I felt it even with Aura." he said, while rubbing the place where he was hit, before getting up and looking at Natsu with a smirk. "Gotta admit kid, you're good. I have no doubt you're the strongest of your age group, in Remnant... Hell, I'd say your're stronger than most full-fledged Hunters and Huntresses."he said.

"Thanks, you're not so shabby yourself! I'm having a blast fighting you, but..." said Natsu grinning before giving Qrow a dragonic smirk. "I think we've warmed up enough."he said. NJR eyes widened at this.

"That was a warm-up!" said Jaune and Nora in disbelief.

"He's joking, right?" asked Ren stunned.

"Nope. Natsu's still holding back a lot." said Happy seriously.

"Uncle Qrow's the same. He still hasn't used his scythe." said Ruby seriously.

Back to the fight, Qrow picked up Harbringer. "Took the words right out of my mouth, kid."he said smirking before turning his sword into it's scythe form and taking a fighting stance. Natsu clenched his fists and, with a yell, started releasing more Magic Power, with flames enveloping his whole body. This caused the surronding temperature to increase even more.

When he finished powering up, Natsu took a fighting stance and the flames disappeared. "So, ready for round 2?" asked Natsu with a dragonic smirk. Qrow nodded smirking, aswell. Both stared at each other for a bit before Natsu, while igniting his right fist, jumped at Qrow leaving a crater on the ground.

**"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" **Natsu threw a right flaming punch Qrow that he dodged by sidestepping left. Qrow then spun and gave Natsu a horizontal slash to the chest. Natsu was expecting this and ducked under the slash, while spinning, giving Qrow a right leg sweep, that made him fall to the ground. In the same movement, Natsu got up while spinning again and raised his right leg, litting his foot ablaze.

**"Fire Dragon's Claw!" **Natsu tried giving a flaming right axe-kick to Qrow but hit the ground insted, creating a big crater, because the Huntsman managed to roll backwards into his feet in time to dodge the blow.

Qrow dashed at Natsu, who met his charge with fists lit ablaze, and the two started a new trade of blows, only much faster than before. Seeing that they were getting nowhere both decide to jump backwards to gain some distance. As soon as he landed Natsu dashed at Qrow. Seeing this Qrow stabbed the sharp end of his scythe on the ground and, gritting his teeth, pulled it out launching a large rock at Natsu in the process, that he destroyed easily with a flaming punch. Qrow then took advantage of the smoke by focusing Aura on his scythe and swinging it around sending 3 Aura Air-Slashes at Natsu through the smoke before dashing at Natsu. Natsu's eyes widened at this and seeing that he coudn't dodge in time he crossed his arms in front of his body to defend himself. The slashes cut Natsu in the forearms and his midsection on the right side, with blood gushing from the wounds, making him grit his teeth in pain. Natsu didn't have much time to rest because, he had to dodge a a horizontal slash to the chest from Qrow's scythe, by ducking. Qrow followed this by spinning, while ducking, and giving a horizontal slash to Natsu's legs. Natsu back-flipped over the slash using his feet as thrusters to gain more distance. Qrow dashed after Natsu and faked a downward diagonal slash, by turning his scythe into it's sword form mid-swing, before thursting Harbringer at Natsu's chest. Natsu managed to duck under the thurst but, still got cut on his shoulder. Then Natsu engulfed his right fist in flames and lightning. Everyone's eyes except Happy widen. _'Lightning?'_ theythought.

**"Lightning Flame Dragon's Firing Hammer!" **Natsu gave a powerful sparking, flaming right punch to Qrow's gut making a large, sparking, fiery explosion that broke the Huntsman Aura and sent him flying , while being electrocuted, several meters and through a couple of trees before coming to a stop in the ground.

"Ooh... That hurt like a bitch."Qrow groaned. Then Qrow got up, this time with a lot more difficulty and with shaky legs before coughing blood. He stared at where he was hit and saw that his clothes had burned and that he also had burn on his stomach that was still steaming. _'This kid is really something else. Not only did he break my Aura with that punch, but he also burned and electrocuted me. Ruby, I'm still not sure if you just like him as a friend or something more but, he already has my approval.' _thought Qrow with a small smile before turning Harbringer into it's compact form and walking back, with some difficulty, to where Natsu and the others were. When he got there Qrow saw Natsu taking a fighting stance and said while raising his hands in surrender "Calm down, kid. I surrender."

"Oh, come on! Why?!" complained Natsu.

Qrow raised one finger and said "1: you just broke my Aura. So if I keep fighting you this burn" Qrow pointed at his stomach "Will be the least of my problems." Then Qrow raised two fingers and continued "2: we have to check those cuts on your body. Some of them are a bit deep."

"Ah, fine." pouted Natsu. At this point Team RNJR and Happy aproached them with concerned looks on their faces.

"Guys, are you okay?" asked Jaune with concern.

"Yeah, for the most part. " said Qrow.

"Yup!" said Natsu grinning.

"Are you sure?" asked Nora.

"Well, as soon as my Aura recovers and heals me, I'll be back to 100%. Natsu on the other hand..." said Qrow looking at Natsu at the end.

"Oh, come on! I just have some scratches, that's all." said Natsu raising his hands.

Ruby glared at Natsu and pointed at the wound in his torso, while saying "This is not a scratch! If you had Aura yo-" Ruby's eyes widened before saying with a big smile "That's it!"

Everyone blinked in confusion and Ren asked the question in everyone's minds. "That's what?" he asked.

"Aura." said Ruby with a big smile. Qrow and Team RNJR's eyes widened in understanding.

"I see where your getting at. If we unlock Natsu's Aura, it will heal him." said Qrow. Ruby nodded with a big smile.

"Okay. So, who'll do it?" asked Jaune.

"I will!" said Ruby with a big smile, while raising her hand. Then Ruby immediatly grabbed Natsu's hands, closed her eyes and chanted "For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death. I release your soul and by my shoulder protect thee."

Natsu's body was surrounded by Red Aura, that healed his wounds, and Ruby fell on to one knee. Seeing this Happy flew to Ruby. At the same time Natsu kneeled down and asked Ruby with concern "Rubes, are you okay?"

"Yeah, just tired." said Ruby smilling tiredly.

"Was it because you unlocked Natsu's Aura?" asked Happy.

"Yep. Unlocking someone's Aura, does that." said Ruby smilling tiredly before looking at Natsu's body. Then Ruby looked up and said "And it worked like a charm."

Natsu blinked and looked at himself and saw that his wound had healed. "I guess it did! Thanks, Rubes!" said Natsu with his signature smile, while looking at Ruby.

Ruby blushed a bit and said "I-it was nothing, really."

Natsu looked at Happy. "Hey Happy, check it out! Not even a scar left!" said Natsu grinning while pointing at his torso.

Happy looked at Natsu. "Whoa. Aura really is awesome!" said Happy, with a big smile and stars in his eyes. Natsu nodded with a big smile. Then Happy looked at Qrow and NJR and asked "Can you unlock my Aura too?"

"Sure, I don't see why not. I would do it myself but, since I'm out of Aura..." said Qrow with a small smile before turning to NJR. "One of you will have to do it."

"I'll do it." said Jaune before walking to Happy. Jaune placed a hand on top of Happy's head, closed his eyes and chanted "For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death. I release your soul and by my shoulder protect thee."

Happy's body was surrounded by Blue Aura for a bit before disappearing. "Thanks, Jaune!" he said with a big smile.

"No problem, Happy." said Jaune with a small tired smile. Then he sitted on the ground and said "Phew, unlocking Aura really takes a toll on you."

"I know, right." said Ruby tiredly.

"That's how it works." chuckled Qrow. Qrow sitted down on the ground and said "Let's stay here for a few more hours to rest and then we'll leave." Everyone nodded and sitted on the ground. Then Qrow looked at Natsu and said "Hey, Natsu. How did you use lightning in that last attack?"

"I wanted to ask you the same thing." said Ruby looking at Natsu.

"That was my Lightning Flame Dragon Mode." said Natsu grinning. Everyone but Happy blinked in confusion.

"Lightning Flame Dragon Mode?" asked Ren.

"Yeah. It's a power-up I gained by eating Laxus's lightning. Basically, I fuse my fire with the lightning I ate from Laxus to make me and my attacks stronger."

"Laxus? That's your Guild Master's grandson, right?" asked Ruby.

Natsu nodded with a smile. "This Mode isn't nearly as powerful as my Fire Dragon King Mode but it's still pretty neat right?" said Natsu with a big smile.

"Yeah, It's awesome!" said Ruby with a big smile and stars in her eyes. Nora and Ren nodded.

"Wait, you have a stronger Mode?!" asked Jaune in disbelief.

"Yeah. If I had used that on Qrow I would've beaten him in one blow." said Natsu with a big smile before looking at Happy and adding. "Right, Happy?"

"Aye, sir!" said Happy with a big smile.

_'From what I could tell, he could already outclass me in Lightning Flame Dragon Mode but he still has something stronger... Beat me in one blow, huh. For some reason I believe him... Man, I really need to start training again... On the bright side we have a better chance at beating Salem with him on our side. ' _thought Qrow. "Well as impressive as that is, you still owe me a shirt." said Qrow signalling to the hole in his clothes.

"Don't worry about that I can fix them." said Natsu before his body started glowing yellow. When it stopped glowing it Natsu's clothes were fixed. "See?" he said. Everyone but Happy's eyes widened.

"How did you do that?" asked Qrow stunned.

"Clothes Restoration Magic. I can repair any clothing item as long as it's not completly destroyed. Every Wizard learns it to repair their battle gear in missions. " answered Natsu.

"So you can do the same to mine?" asked Qrow. Natsu nodded and pointed his hand at Qrow. The Huntsman's body glowed for a bit before stopping and showing his clothes repaired.

"Thanks kid." said Qrow with a small smile. Natsu just nodded with a carefree smile.

"Hey, Natsu." said Nora with a big smile at Natsu, who looked at her. "Since we have time can you tell us about your adventures?"

"I have to admit I'm curious about them, aswell." said Ren.

"Me too." nodded Jaune.

"Sure!" said Natsu with his signature smile. Natsu put a thinking expression and said "So where should I start?"

"How about with, how you met Igneel? You didn't tell me that last night." said Ruby with a big excited smile.

"Good idea, Rubes!" said Natsu with his signature smile before looking at the sky with a small nostalgic smile. "So, I met Igneel..." Then Natsu told them everything until the war with Alvarez. Qrow and Team RNJR were stunned when Natsu told them that Zeref, his brother, ressurected him as a demon called E.N.D.

"Wait, your brother ressurected you as a demon?" asked Jaune and Natsu nodded. "Well that's hard to believe." said Jaune and everyone but Natsu nodded.

Natsu looked confused so Qrow explained. "Kid, your the furthest thing from a demon we've ever seen." he said.

"He's right. When you got here you saved Ruby and fought Tyrian to protect us. A demon would never do that." said Ren with a small smile.

"Renny is right!" said Nora with a big smile.

"They're right. The Grimm, Salem and Cinder are real demons not you... even if you were resurrected as one." said Ruby with a small smile.

"Thanks guys, that means a lot but... I'm no longer a demon. " said Natsu with a big smile. Qrow and Team RJNR tilted their heads in confusion.

"What do you mean?" asked Ruby.

Natsu answered Ruby with a small smile "Well the thing that made me a demon was something called Demon Seed and I no longer have it. You see after I found out from Zeref I was his brother and E.N.D..." Then Natsu told what happened until the end of the War of Alvarez, where he killed Acnologia with the help from the other Dragon Slayers. As Natsu spoke, Ruby noticed that everytime he mentioned Lucy his expression seemed to sadden and decided to ask Happy about when they were alone. Natsu was gonna start telling them about the 100 Year Quest but, Qrow stopped him saying it was time to leave and that he could continue the story some other time. Everyone nodded and picked up their stuff. Then the group started walking in direction to Mistral. Qrow was walking in the front of the group leading the way. Ren, Jaune, Nora and Natsu were walking in the middle, while talking excitedly. Ruby was walking with Happy, who was flying, in the back of the group a bit further from the others.

Ruby took advantage of this and the fact that Natsu was distracted to ask Happy something that has been in the back of her mind. "Happy." she said. Happy looked at her. "Can I ask you something?" asked Ruby.

"Of course, Ruby. What is it?" said Happy.

"Did something happen to Lucy?" asked Ruby. Happy tilted his head in confusion. Seeing this Ruby was more direct and asked "Did Lucy, die?"

"No! Where did you get that idea from?" asked Happy confused.

"Well it's just..." said Ruby before looking at the ground. "Natsu seemed so sad when he talked about her so I thought..." Ruby bit her lip before looking at him and continuing "you know."

Happy expression saddened. "So you noticed, that." he said.

Ruby nodded before asking in concern "She's might be alive but, something did happen, didn't it?"

"Yeah." nodded Happy sadly looking at the ground. Happy looked at Ruby with a sad smile and asked "Your worried about him aren't you?" Ruby nodded. "You want to help him, don't you?" he asked with a sad smile. Ruby nodded again. Happy looked a the ground and said sadly "Even so, I can't tell you."

"Why not?" asked Ruby confused.

"It's not that I don't want to tell you. It's just... "said Happy still looking at the ground. Happy looked up and continued "This is something really personal for Natsu. So if you want to know you're going to have to ask him." Happy looked at the ground "Sorry Ruby." he said.

"It's okay Happy, I understand." said Ruby smilling reassuringly.

Happy looked up and said with a small smile "Thanks, Ruby."

"Don't mention it. I'll just ask Natsu when we're alone." said Ruby smilling reassuringly. Happy nodded with a small smile.

The two traveled in silence until Happy decided to break it, talking while looking ahead. "You know," Ruby looked at Happy "Natsu was the heart of the Guild. When someone was sad... When someone thought of giving up... Natsu was always there to cheer them up and pull them away from despair. He never gives up. He's always the first one to get back up and fight, even if an enemy looks unbeatable but... He has his moments of sadness too. The thing is, Natsu has always been really good at hiding his sadness with a smile and no one in the Guild was ever able to see through it... not even Lucy but, you were able to see through it easily." he said.

"Really?" asked Ruby.

Happy nodded before looking at Ruby with a big smile. "You really love him, don't you?" he said. Ruby blushed and looked to the other side, to hid her face, but didn't deny it. Happy chuckled before saying with a sing-song voice "I'm not hearing a no!"

Ruby blushed redder than her cape and grumbled " Stupid cat." before walking ahead. Happy just laughed at her embarrassment before following her.

* * *

**/Forests of Anima (Hours later)/**

The landscape is looking dreary as the group keeps travelling in direction to Mistral. Qrow was still walking in the front of the group leading the way. Ren, Jaune, Nora, Natsu, Ruby and Happy were walking in the back, with Natsu walking with his hands behind his hands behind his head.

"How much farther, Uncle Qrow?" asked Ruby.

"Please tell me we're getting close." begged Nora.

"Without the map, there's no way of knowing Nora." said Ren.

"Don't worry, we should be getting close." said Qrow without looking back.

"How are you so su-" said Jaune but he was interrupted.

"Guys!" said Natsu. Everyone looked at him.

"What is it?" asked Ruby. Natsu pointed ahead making everyone look at where he was pointing. Directly ahead was a fork in the road with a signpost. The group walked to it and looked at the signpost. They came from the direction of Higanbana. Kuchinashi and Mistral are to the right, where the land is mountainous. To the left is Kuroyuri, its name crossed out. The path that way remains low ground.

"Hey, hey! Mistral! We're on the right path!" said Nora excitedly before noticing the plaque that said Kuroyuri. "Oh..." she said with a sad look before looking at Ren. She saw him staring at the plaque with a sad look. _'Ren.' _thought Nora sadly before walking to Ren and grabbing his hand. Ren looked at her before giving her a small, affectionate smile. Nora returned the smile before the two looked at the plaque again.

"Does it say how close?" asked Ruby

"No. And it looks like the path takes us up the mountains." said Jaune.

"Either way that's where we are headed." said Qrow. Natsu, Ruby, Happy and Jaune nodded. The group started walking, with the exception of Ren and Nora. Ren and Nora kept looking at the plaque with a sad look while holding hands.

Natsu looked back and noticed they weren't following. "Nora, Ren what's wrong?" he asked, after stopping walking, making the others look back and stop, aswell. Neither Ren nor Nora answered him, so Natsu walked to the signpost to see what Ren was staring at. "Kuro... Kuroyuri? Why is this name crossed?" asked Natsu.

"Because that village was destroyed years ago." said Qrow walking to them, while being followed by Ruby, Jaune and Happy. Natsu looked at them.

"By Grimm?" asked Ruby. Qrow nodded.

"So why were you staring so much at this name, Ren?" asked Natsu looking at Ren.

"Because..." said Ren before looking at the ground with a sad look. Nora squeezed Ren's hand in supporting gesture. Ren squeezed back, took a deep breath before looking to the group. "Because Kuroyuri was my village." he said. Everyone's eyes but Nora widened in surprise.

"Kuroyuri was your village?!" asked Jaune in disbelief.

Ren nodded and looked at Nora with a small, affectionate smile and said "It was also there that I met Nora." Nora returned the smile. "You see..." said Ren.

* * *

_**/Kuroyuri Village - Years Ago/**_

_A pretty waterlily in full bloom floats on an aqueduct in the town center of Kuroyuri. Ren, as a child, looks eagerly at it with a smile._

_"Why, hello, little Lie. Are we trying to catch a fish?" said An Ren laughing lightly. _

_"I've found a flower on the water!" said Ren with a smile_

_"Oh, I see!" said An with a smile._

_Ren rushed over to his mother and asked "Can we take it home and plant it in the garden?"_

_"Oh no, sweetheart, that flower lives here." said An. Ren looks down dejectedly and An rubs his head. "But I'll tell you what you can do. Take this Lien and go find something nice for your father's return. He's been hunting for quite some time. I bet that the journey's been very tiring, don't you?_

_"Yes." said Ren taking the Lien. _

_"Do you think you'll know what he wants?" asked An._

_"I think... he wants a water flower in the garden!" said Ren_

_"Why did you have to inherit my sass?" chuckled An. She gives her son a playful nudge on his bottom as Ren turns away on his new mission to find a gift for his father. He crosses the planks that serve as a bridge over the aqueduct. An watches him go with a smile. A wide shot of Kuroyuri shows a prosperous and peaceful town. Ren rushes up to a weapons stand._

_"What can I buy with this?" asked Ren._

_"Well, something just your size." chuckled Young Blacksmith. He holds up two wooden toy weapons. One is a sword, reminiscent of Crocea Mors and the other is a hammer reminiscent of Magnhild. _

_Ren deflates in disappointment at being unable to buy a new weapon for his next waits in line at a liquor merchant. "Sake, please." he said. The wine merchant gives him a bemused look, and with a sigh, shakes his head in the negative. Ren groans, a little frustrated. He walks through the open town before stopping to look in a bakery window. There are several treats, including slices of lemon meringue pie, frosted cupcakes, actual cakes with frosted waterlilies atop them, and a shelf of kitten-shaped bread. Ren is happily excited but turns when he hears a voice._

_"Hey, get back here!" said Tall Boy. Ren looks around the corner of the bakery, following the sound of a group of kids laughing and mocking. Three boys stand in a semicircle around a dirty looking girl who is crouched on the ground and clutching a loaf of bread. It's young Nora Valkyrie. "Where'd you get that bread? I didn't see you pay for it, thief!" said Tall Boy._

_"No, look, it's all moldy!" said Short Boy. _

_"I think she got it from the trash!" said Tall Boy._

_"Lemme see!" said Medium Boy while reaching out. Nora bites his finger before he can touch the bread. "Ah! She bit me!" he said. Tall Boy looks at Medium Boy's hand in horror before Medium Boy pushes Nora backward onto the ground. Nora whimpers for a second but gets up and grabs her bread off the ground. She takes a few more steps back before crouching away again._

_"Where'd she come from?" asked Short Boy. Ren watches, taking a few uncertain steps forward. "She's dressed all weird!" said Short Boy._

_"I bet she's abandoned! Like a dog or something!" said Tall Boy_

_"Does that mean I have rabies?" said Medium Boy_

_All three chuckle meanly. Nora sees Ren getting closer and looks at him with big, blinking eyes. The bullies see her focus has changed to behind them and they turn to look. Ren panics at having their focus and he turns to run, only to immediately bump into the legs of his father, Li Ren. He falls back and looks up at him. "Father?" said Ren._

_"What is happening here?" asked Li. The three bullies panic and look around, uncertain whether to run yet. Nora, however, sees this as her opening and takes off with her bread. After a beat the bullies decide to run, too. Li turned to Ren and said "Do you wish to run with the rest of them? Ren is standing upright, but he lowers his face in response. Li puts his hand on his son's shoulder and lowers to one knee. "Sometimes the worst action to take... is taking no action at all. Go home. I need to speak with the mayor." said Li before leaving. Ren watches briefly and turns away thoughtfully._

* * *

_**/Kuroyuri Village - Years Ago (At night)/**_

_Young Ren is sleeping until the sound of Grimm awakens him. An rushed in and said "Lie, get up. We have to go."_

_"Mother?" said Ren tired and uncertain. _

_"Now, right now, okay? Let's go!" said An, while grabbing Ren's arm and pulling him up. In the kitchen beyond Ren's bedroom, the outer door bursts inward as a heavily-breathing Li enters. "Li!" said An._

_"An, what are you doing?! We need to hurry!" said Li._

_"We can go to the safehouse!" said An._

_"No. I saw the beast. We need a Huntsman. And you two need to leave." said L_

_"What?" asked An. The creature sounds, loud and ominous, causing all three to look up at the ceiling and walls in alarm._

_"Mother?" said Ren._

_An gets down to her knees to make eye contact with Ren and says "It's OK, darling. Everything's OK." The roof breaks above her head and the screen cuts to black. Crashing and a faint scream can be heard. They are soon followed by the muffled screams of many and loud footsteps accompanied by Li's heavy breathing. Ren comes to gradually, held by his running father. Bits of flaming sparks speckle the air. _

_"Father? What... Where's Mother?" asked Ren. Li is bleeding profusely from above his left eye. A woman nearby screams. "What's going on?! Where is Mother?" asked Ren. Villagers run in a panic, and black specks of ash float with the sparks. A rumble caused the ground to shake and Li falls, dropping Ren and landing on his back. "Father!" said Ren. _

_Everyone runs past them as Li pushes himself up slightly. "Lie, you have to run." said Li._

_"No. Don't. Please. Get up!" said Ren moving to his father. He looks up when he hears the Grimm roaring noise again. Behind them, people run while slowing flowed by the silhouetted image in a cloud of smoke. It is a Nuckelavee Grimm, a horse-shaped creature with a human torso growing out if its back._

_"Listen to me, son. You have to be brave now. Do you understand?" said Li_

_"No, please. Please, I can't!" said Ren, while shaking his head. _

_Li withdraws a knife from its sheath on his hip. "Yes, you can!" said Li. He puts the knife in Ren's hand and pushes him away before falling back with a groan. Ren looks at the knife. "Take action, son." said Li before getting to his feet and looking down at his son. Your mother and I love you." he said._

_"Father..." said Ren, while gripping the knife tighter and fighting tears. _

_The Nuckelavee stomps on the ground behind them. Li turns and readies his bow. "Go!" coughed Li. He notches an arrow and pulls it back. He shouts at his son one more time as he releases the arrow "Run!" Ren runs and Li lets loose arrow after arrow at the towering Grimm. Under an arch and jumping sideways down to a landing beside some steps, Ren crouches, panicking. _

_The cries of Nevermores overhead cause him to look up. He hears sobbing from across the way and discovers Nora crouching beneath a building. A Nevermore flaps loudly and lands on the roof of a building near to the girl. It lets out a loud, dangerous cry. The Nuckelavee stomps through the center of town releasing its own roar. Ren realizes that his father is now dead and cries. Behind him, the waterlily for the aqueduct floats untarnished. There's another Nevermore cry as Ren continues to sob. He stills and Aura shimmers over him, graying out his appearance. Ren lets out a calm breath as color returns. The next shot is of him running toward Nora, and he moves under the building to where she is._

_"Hey!" said Ren putting his hand on Nora's shoulder. Nora gasps but calms when she sees that she's not been found by anything intending her harm. "We have to be brave." said Ren. The Nevermore cries above them, leaning down its head closer to the ground. Nora whimpers and then throws her arms around Ren. His eyes and arms go wide before he accepts in. Putting his arms around her the shimmer happens again and both of them lose the color vivacity in their appearance. The Nevermore, now shown to be dangerously close to where the two children crouch, turns its head and lets out a confused cry. Smoke rises from its body as it turns and cries again before launching into the air. Color returns to the two children and the sounds of heavy steps are nearby. Ren watches the Nuckelavee come closer. Nora turns and together they watch and wait as it pauses next to where they hide before moving on._

_"I'm scared..." said Nora._

_"Me, too." said Ren. The shot pulls back to show the wooden hammer on the ground. Ren moves to retrieve it but Nora clutches his arm, afraid. "It's OK." said Ren. With another whimper, Nora lets him go and watches with big eyes as he moves away. Ren grabs the wooden hammer and returns to her. "We'll keep each other safe" said Ren He offers her the hammer. She looks down at it, clearly emotional before she takes it from him. "What's your name?" asked Ren._

_"Nora." said Nora._

_"My name's Lie Ren." said Ren smiling at her._

* * *

**/Forests of Anima/**

Ren had just finished telling the group about his and Nora's past and the two were looking at the ground sadly. At the same time each member of the group had different reaction to what they heard: Ruby and Happy had tears in their eyes, Qrow took a swig from his flask and then looked at the ground with a sigh, Jaune was looking at the ground as he clenched his fists in anger, Natsu had a angry dragonic look, while he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. Before anyone could say or do anything, a noise cut them out of their thoughts.

ROOAAAARRR

Everyone looked at where the village of Kuroyuri was. Qrow, Ruby and Jaune were glaring already knowing what that noise meant. Natsu and Happy were stunned, because they never heard a roar so filled with hate and anger, not even from an angry Dragon "What the his that?!" asked Happy stunned.

"A Grimm." said Qrow. Natsu and Happy look at the Huntsman in surprise.

"That's a Grimm?" asked Natsu surprised. Qrow, Jaune and Ruby nodded. "Man, you weren't kidding when you said they were filled with anger and hate." said Natsu.

Meanwhile Ren and Nora had a look of disbelief in their faces "That roar..." said Ren making everyone look at him confused. "No... It can't be." said Ren shaking is head.

ROOOOAAAAAARRRRRRR.

* * *

**/Land of Darkness/**

An arcing slash of fire moves across the black screen, quickly followed by another. There is a brief beat before two more fiery arcs slash across the screen. An irregular circle of flame bursts outward from the center, revealing behind the black a panting Cinder Fall.

She is in a large, empty room. Behind her is a darkened arched hallway. On either side of the arch, the walls of the room have a low ledge the bear several burning white candles. Four Beowolves approach Cinder, moving in a semicircle formation. Cinder swings her left arm at them, sending another slash of fire. It cuts through the middle of all four Grimm and they disintegrate away.

Cinder pants again, still upright yet taking a breather. She does not get long, as heavy footsteps approach from her left. She gasps and looks in their direction. A Beringel leaps into the air, ready to deliver a blow to her with its fist. Cinder, however, pulls back her right arm and pushes a ball of flame right at it. It, too, disintegrates. As its body disappears, Cinder falls to her knees, breathing heavily.

"Enough." said Salem. Salem walks forward while Cinder continues to struggle for normal breathing. "I thought you were the girl who wanted power. Did you lie to me?" said Salem. Cinder winces on the force of Salem's question before looking upward. Turning to face Salem, Cinder clearly shakes her head negatively. "Then stop holding back. If you wish to master your new powers, you must -" said Salem but she was cut off by the sound of heavy doors opening. On the opposite end of the stone hall, a sobbing, badly burned Tyrian Callows enters. He falls to his knees once in the room, both hands flat on the floor and his head bowed.

"I'm sorry." said Tyrian softly before raising his hand to his chin. "She'll forgive me. Pleeeease." he begged bowing on the last word. "Forgive me..." said Tyrian.

"Tyrian!" shouted Salem. She stands before him. He raises his body but remains sitting on his legs while Cinder rises from the stone floor behind Salem. "From your injuries I take it your were not successful in your task?" asked Salem holding out her arm imperially.

"N-no." said Tyrian bowing his head. Cinder's eye widens. Salem also looks surprised for a moment before narrowing her eyes and walking away. Cinder watches their leader for her further reaction without looking at Tyrian. "P-please forgive me! It-it wasn't my fault!" begged Tyrian turning his body to remain facing Salem but she just kept walking away. Seeing this Tyrian started punching the ground in rage while crying "Damn you, Scary Monster Boy! It's all your fault! Because of you I failed my Queen! I'll kill you for this!" Cinder looked confused.

Salem stopped and without turning around asked "What Scary Monster Boy?"

Tyrian raised his head and said "He was so scary my Queen! He punched and kicked with fire, he ate an explosion..." Tyrian started shaking with fear and looked at the ground "H-he breathed fire... He-he did all this w-without having his Aura unlocked..." Cinder's eye widens. Salem turns to Tyrian, looking surprised "When-when I stared into his eyes I saw a scary giant red Dragon." Tyrian raised his head again "B-but I still fought my Queen! I swear!" Tyrian bowed again and begged "Please forgive me! Please,please,pleaaaa-"

Salem cut Tyrian of "Tyrian!" Tyrian stopped but didn't raised his head. "Do you know this Scary Monster Boy's name?" asked Salem holding out her arm imperially.

"Natsu Dragneel." answered Tyrian.

"Good, it seems this wasn't a complete loss..." nodded Salem with an evil smile. "Raise your head Tyrian, it seems the last eye can still see."

Tyrian looked up and asked hopefully "Does that mean?"

"Yes, I forgive your failure... And as a token of my apreciation, for bringing me this information, I'll even heal you and gift you with more power" Salem's eyes narrowed and glowed red "But this will be last chance. Understood?" Tyrian nodded. "Good, then follow me." said Salem before turning around and leaving. Tyrian followed her _'Natsu Dragneel. Very interesting, very interesting indeed.' _thought Salem with a evil smile as she left.

Cinder, who was left alone, licked her lips hungrily. '_Natsu Dragneel, huh.'_ thought Cinder with a smile before getting back into training.

* * *

**And that's it for this chapter guys! Hope you liked it! **

**Don't forget to leave your reviews.**

**fpinheiro96 out!**


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